Humanitarian aid from North Korea’s two largest donors (United States and South Korea) was interrupted last year because of military provocations by Pyongyang. The sinking of the ROKS Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island infuriated South Korea’s conservative government. In announcing the embargo, President Lee Myung-bak said his administration would not countenance any more aid unless the North apologised.
Even though South Korean authorities said they would not allow the use of public funds, they did not rule out aid by others. Seoul’s change of heart came after the United Nations issued a report last week painting a dire picture of the humanitarian situation in the impoverished Communist state led by ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il.
A long famine, cold winter and poor farming techniques have wiped much of domestic food production. The government’s planned economy has crippled industry in a country where a quarter of the national budget goes to defence and the armed forces, proportionately one of the largest in the world.
Sources told AsiaNews that “people are at their wits’ end, forced to eat earth and raw animal fat, when they find it, with serious consequences for their health.”
The Eugene Bell Foundation will start shipping aid tomorrow. The US-based NGO works closely with Caritas Korea, which should submit its own aid plans to the government shortly.