Increased aid to North Korea

Winnipeg

Mounting evidence of severe malnutrition and a major pre-harvest food shortage has prompted member agencies of Canadian Foodgrains Bank to commit an additional $500,000 to finance a regional purchase of food for immediate delivery to North Korea. The decision to deliver more food came less than a week after a Canadian Foodgrains Bank delegation returned from North Korea. "Conditions in North Korea have seriously deteriorated since our last visit in November. I have not seen this level of malnutrition since Ethiopia in 1985," reported Al Kehler, Canadian Foodgrains Bank program coordinator. "Birgitta Karigren of the World Food Program in Pyongyang described the conditions in North Korea as a famine in the making."

Kehler added that deaths from starvation are widely reported. Children are severely malnourished. The public distribution system in the country has run out of food. According to the World Food Program, more than 80,000 metric tonnes are required prior to harvest in September/October. Food aid commitments to date will cover no more than a third of this amount.

"People are already dying", said Kehler. "A doctor in Kangwon province said the mortality rate in his country was 1.5 times higher than normal, because of inadequate food. An official in Wonson City stated that one to two children were dying every month in each of the county's 33 nurseries."

The North Korean government estimates 3.7 percent or 80,000 children are severely malnourished. Such children require special food and exceptional treatment just to survive. "United Nations officials who spoke with us said their training in therapeutic feeding is now widely required," noted Bill Janzen, Ottawa director of Mennonite Central Committee.

As with previous commitments to North Korea, Canadian Foodgrains Bank has asked the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for permission to utilize its existing CIDA funding in North Korea. If CIDA agrees to support the proposed regional purchase--likely to involve the purchase of food in neighbouring China or Vietnam--the Canadian Foodgrains Bank response could be as much as $2.5 million, providing substantially more food for North Korea's 22 million people.

"The current pre-harvest situation is so urgent, we're asking CIDA for a response within a week," said Rick Fee, director of Presbyterian World Service and Development. "Food distributions this year have been meager and sporadic. Without additional substantial food aid shipments, people will simply starve in large numbers. The need is staggering and compelling. We must act now to avert further disaster and suffering."

The delegation--which included representation from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Presbyterian World Service and Development, Mennonite Central Committee Canada and the United Church of Canada--was in North Korea to follow up on an earlier Foodgrains Bank shipment of wheat (13,500 metric tonnes valued at $4.5 million) that arrived in North Korea in mid-June. Members observed and monitored food distributions, visited nurseries and schools, and talked to people in their homes about the current situation and need. Since 1996, Canadian Foodgrains Bank has provided over 17,850 mt of food aid to North Korea.

CFBG release

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