ID :
21002
Wed, 09/24/2008 - 20:57
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/21002
The shortlink copeid
Previous S. Korean food aid shipments to N.K. misguided: report
SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) -- Most of South Korea's food aid sent to impoverished
North Korea during the former liberal governments ended up in the capital
Pyongyang, failing to reach regions hit hardest by food shortages, a government
report showed Wednesday.
Transparency in the distribution of aid in the North has been a persistent
question for many here over the past decade, with critics believing most of the
food is being used to feed the North's strong military and the elite instead of
starving civilians.
Up to 300,000 tons of Seoul's food aid sent between 2003 and last year went to
the relatively well-fed residents of Pyongyang, more than four times the amount
sent to Yanggang Province, which received just 70,000 tons, according to the
Unification Ministry's report to a ruling party lawmaker.
Yanggang and North Hamkyung provinces, near the border with China, are the
hardest hit areas by food shortages this year, the United Nation's World Food
Program (WFP) said in June.
Previous South Korean administrations led by liberal leaders Kim Dae-jung and Roh
Moo-hyun sent approximately 400,000 tons of food to the North every year, but
were blamed for not demanding proper monitoring of the distribution. Direct food
relief shipments have been suspended this year after the launch of the
conservative Lee Myung-bak government.
"Current levels of starvation in North Korea could partly be due to our misguided
distribution of aid," said Kwon Young-se of the ruling Grand National Party.
"Improving distribution and monitoring systems is more important than increasing
the amount of aid."
The WFP says the best way to help the most vulnerable North Koreans may be to
funnel the aid through the U.N. agency as it has better monitoring capabilities.
The United States, having decided to send 500,000 tons of food aid to the North,
demanded the right to conduct independent monitoring from the North Korean
authorities. Pyongyang reluctantly agreed, although concerns linger over whether
the reclusive regime will keep its verbal agreement.
Seoul's seven-month-old Lee government remains undecided on whether to provide
the food aid amid chilling inter-Korean ties and Pyongyang's recent retreat from
a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal with South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and
the United States.
The WFP last month asked Seoul along with other countries to contribute up to
US$60 million in food aid, citing the fact that the North is currently
experiencing the worst food shortage in nearly a decade.
President Lee, who is against what he calls the "unconditional flow of aid" to
the North adopted by his predecessors, firmly links the handouts with Pyongyang's
denuclearization. He also said public sentiment, still icy after the shooting
death of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier in July, will be the
most decisive factor in continuing food assistance to the North.
North Korea during the former liberal governments ended up in the capital
Pyongyang, failing to reach regions hit hardest by food shortages, a government
report showed Wednesday.
Transparency in the distribution of aid in the North has been a persistent
question for many here over the past decade, with critics believing most of the
food is being used to feed the North's strong military and the elite instead of
starving civilians.
Up to 300,000 tons of Seoul's food aid sent between 2003 and last year went to
the relatively well-fed residents of Pyongyang, more than four times the amount
sent to Yanggang Province, which received just 70,000 tons, according to the
Unification Ministry's report to a ruling party lawmaker.
Yanggang and North Hamkyung provinces, near the border with China, are the
hardest hit areas by food shortages this year, the United Nation's World Food
Program (WFP) said in June.
Previous South Korean administrations led by liberal leaders Kim Dae-jung and Roh
Moo-hyun sent approximately 400,000 tons of food to the North every year, but
were blamed for not demanding proper monitoring of the distribution. Direct food
relief shipments have been suspended this year after the launch of the
conservative Lee Myung-bak government.
"Current levels of starvation in North Korea could partly be due to our misguided
distribution of aid," said Kwon Young-se of the ruling Grand National Party.
"Improving distribution and monitoring systems is more important than increasing
the amount of aid."
The WFP says the best way to help the most vulnerable North Koreans may be to
funnel the aid through the U.N. agency as it has better monitoring capabilities.
The United States, having decided to send 500,000 tons of food aid to the North,
demanded the right to conduct independent monitoring from the North Korean
authorities. Pyongyang reluctantly agreed, although concerns linger over whether
the reclusive regime will keep its verbal agreement.
Seoul's seven-month-old Lee government remains undecided on whether to provide
the food aid amid chilling inter-Korean ties and Pyongyang's recent retreat from
a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal with South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and
the United States.
The WFP last month asked Seoul along with other countries to contribute up to
US$60 million in food aid, citing the fact that the North is currently
experiencing the worst food shortage in nearly a decade.
President Lee, who is against what he calls the "unconditional flow of aid" to
the North adopted by his predecessors, firmly links the handouts with Pyongyang's
denuclearization. He also said public sentiment, still icy after the shooting
death of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier in July, will be the
most decisive factor in continuing food assistance to the North.
