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Wednesday, June 11, 2003

Cannibalsm in North Korea 

On a dark note, there is cannibalism, in North Korea.The telegraph.co.uk reports that a disappointing harvest and decrease in international food aid has devasted North Korea's food supply, leading to desperate measures:

Cannibalism is increasing in North Korea following another poor harvest and a big cut in international food aid, according to refugees who have fled the stricken country.

Aid agencies are alarmed by refugees' reports that children have been killed and corpses cut up by people desperate for food. Requests by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to be allowed access to "farmers' markets", where human meat is said to be traded, have been turned down by Pyongyang, citing "security reasons".

I gather from the way the information is presented that this is nothing new, only, it hasn't been widely circulated as news.
News it is though when the U.S. is using food as a bargaining chip, or is it more like a bully withholding someone's breakfast, lunch and dinner:

The WFP says Japan provided 500,000 tons of food aid in 2001, making it the biggest donor, but sent nothing last year. Food aid from America has been cut from 340,000 tons in 2001 to 40,000 tons so far this year. Washington has pledged to send a further 60,000 tons if Pyongyang lifts restrictions on the operations of agencies such as the WFP.

I e-mailed the United Nations World Food Bank (WFP), this e-mail:

Mr. Trevor Rowe,

I would like to know if you would have availabe the shortage in food for North Korea, in terms of tonnage, as far as their ability to feed their people, for the entire year. In other words, how much tonnage of food would it take to feed North Korea, and how much could it possibly be short this coming year, and is the current American policy of the withholding of food reflected in the expected shortage? There was recently this article in telegraph.uk.co talking about cannibalism in North Korea. Given the crisis there, I'm curious as to why there isn't an "appeal" by your organization for North Korea specifically, as there is for Iraq.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Cook

Mr. Rowe is with their public relations. He referred me to a Mr. Gerald Bourke, who wrote back:

Dear Elisabeth,

Trevor Rowe has passed your message to me.

WFP has had a very substantial aid operation in North Korea for several
years, and we appeal every year to the international community to support
it. Between 1995 (when we began) and 2001, the operation was fully funded.
In 2002 donor support faltered, with the result that in the latter months
of the year we were unable to feed as many as 3 million of our 4 million
so-called "core" beneficiaries (primarily children, women and elderly
people). That situation largely persisted until April of this year. Now,
thanks to recent shipments and pledges of food aid, we are resuming
distributions to most of those who were deprived of our rations, and have
sufficient resources in the pipeline to continue feeding them until
October. We constantly convey the needs as we see them to the donor
community, and sincerely hope that the October-December requirement will be
met.

WFP and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimate North Korea's
2003 cereals gap - the difference between what the country produces and the
minimum it needs - at just over 1 million tonnes, or 20 per cent of the
requirement. Taking account of expected commercial imports and bilateral
(i.e. not through WFP) donations, we appealed late last year for 511,000
tonnes of commodities for the current year. We now have confirmed
contributions amounting to 315,000 tonnes, and require an additional 80,000
tonnes to be able to fully implement our programme for the remainder of the
year (because we were unable to feed so many in January-April, and because
there is no such thing as retroactive feeding, our overall requirement for
the year is no longer 511,000 tonnes).

The US is not witholding food aid for North Korea. It has been the largest
provider of assistance to the country through WFP since the mid-1990s,
accounting for more than half of the 3.6 million tonnes channeled through
us. It has pledged 40,000 tonnes so far this year, and indicated a
willingness to make available a further 60,000 tonnes.

I hope I have answered your questions. I would be very glad to answer any
others you may have.

Thank you for your interest and support.

Best wishes,

Gerald Bourke
Public Affairs Officer
WFP China (for DPRK)
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and may be confidential, proprietary or privileged. If you are
not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately,
delete this message and do not disclose, distribute or copy it to
any third party or otherwise use this message. The content of
this message does not necessarily reflect the official position
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and the sender is not liable for any of these occurrences. The
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messages.

Goodness me, I guess he didn't want me to share this e-mail. There are questions here though. If the U.S. isn't withholding food, why dangle 60,000 tons of food, like a carrot on a stick, in front of starving people? I asked that question of Mr. Burke:

Mr. Gerald Bourke,

You say that the U.S. is not withholding food from North Korea. Could you then please respond to this article, from the news.telegraph.co.uk. Here is an excerpt from the article:

The WFP says Japan provided 500,000 tons of food aid in 2001, making it the biggest donor, but sent nothing last year. Food aid from America has been cut from 340,000 tons in 2001 to 40,000 tons so far this year. Washington has pledged to send a further 60,000 tons if Pyongyang lifts restrictions on the operations of agencies such as the WFP.

It appears not only that Washington is withholding food as a form of "diplomacy", but the pledged amount, 100,000 tons if the 60,000 is sent, is 240,000 tons less than what the U.S. contributed last year. Thank you for your response.

Elizabeth

When you go to the home page of the WFP, the emphasis is on Iraq, as it should be. But the starvation of a people to the point of cannabalism ought to be blasted all over the place, and howls of indignation from the WFP, among other organizations. This is a desperately poor country that is dangerous in its desperation. They are thought to possess nuclear weapons. We are beating up diplomatically on a country that has nothing to lose. People with nothing to lose can become suicidal, and homicidal. Compassion is what this country needs, and lots of it.

# posted by scorpiorising : 9:17 AM |

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