By Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
SEOUL, South Korea – After a five day visit to North Korea United Nations’ humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos declared the country to be in dire need of help to fight malnutrition. She continued “six million North Koreans urgently need food aid but the outside world is not giving enough.”
During her trip Ms. Amos said she was allowed to visit all of her requested locations without any restrictions. These locations included a public market, a government food distribution center, two orphanages, two hospitals, and a communal farm.
Ms. Amos found that most people were surviving on corn and cabbage. A few groups of people had access to small amounts of rice. Ms. Amos explained that children are most affected by the food crisis and one out of every two children is malnourished.
David Austin, the North Korea program director for the U.S. based relief group Mercy Corps explained that children are dying because they are eating alternative foods such as corn mixed with roots or leaves. He further explained that this kind of diet, along with the failure to find clean water to drink, has rendered many North Koreas unable to fight simple sicknesses such as the common cold.
Mr. Austin had the opportunity to interview several North Koreans during his time in the country. What he found was families spent all of their household income on food and “every single person knew the exact date of when they last had protein.”
Many critics have pointed fingers at the United States and South Korea for their recent lack of aid to North Korea. Some feel as though the United States is holding back its aid as leverage against North Korea in nuclear talks going on this week in Geneva.
While speaking with reporters Ms. Amos urged the world to not politicize the situation. “You do not judge people on the basis of the political environment in which they are living” she said following her visit.
While North Korea has taken unprecedented actions such as allowing journalists into the country to report the food situation to the world, Ms. Amos understands the world’s skepticism. She explained that she instructed the North Korean authorities about the importance of data collecting regarding the food situation.
In April the U.N. requested 218 million dollars in humanitarian aid for North Korea. Approximately, one-third of that amount has been contributed with the primary donors being the European Union and Russia.
For more information, please see:
Herald Sun — ‘Terrible’ Malnutrition in North Korea – UN – 24 October 2011
Korean Herald — U.N. Says Aid to N.K. Should be Separate from Politics — 24 October 2011
New York Times — Head of U.N. Humanitarian Aid Paints Dire Scene in North Korea — 24 October 2011
Reuters — North Korea food aid should not be politicized – U.N. official – 24 October 2011
Voice of America — UN Calls for Increased Funding to Feed North Korea’s Hungry — 24 October 2011
