CNN WORLD News

North Korea at risk of famine

Woman and crops

May 14, 1996
Web posted at: 11:55 p.m. EDT (0355 GMT)

From Correspondent Richard Roth

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Barren, dust-filled fields are the norm this summer in North Korea, where residents are trying to cope with both dwindling food supplies and a weakening economy. The combination adds up to difficult straits for the isolated nation.

According to the United Nations, the worst may still be ahead. U.N. food agencies issued a new special alert warning that North Korea's food stocks have sharply deteriorated, and the risk of famine is looming.

"A crisis is developing. Their harvest year goes from September through October, and they had severe floods that took place in July and August and they lost a large percentage of their crops" last year, said Douglas Coutts, the North American director of World Food. He had just returned from a survey of North Korea.

Fields

Compounding last year's flooding, food imports through commercial and relief agencies were smaller than anticipated. Fuel shortages and the collapse of trade with former Soviet bloc partners didn't help matters either. Only 20 percent of the land is good for growing crops.

Relief efforts for North Korea suffered a setback when a ship carrying $2 million worth of food aid from the United States went down in a storm in the Straits of Taiwan. Two other ships have recently made it in, but there are clearly not enough basic food staples making it to North Korea's citizens.

"Worsening food shortages and the inability of the public distribution system to provide a regular supply of basic staples have led to consumption of wild foods," U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa said. "In other words, people are eating grass again, and roots."

The United States, Japan and South Korea ended two days of talks Tuesday with an offer to provide more food aid if North Korea would first agree to proposed four-party talks between the United States, South Korea, and China on a new Korean peace settlement. Japan would not participate in the talks, but is interested in encouraging them.

"What North Korea is trying to do is to get as much assistance as possible from the international community. At the same time, North Korea is making every effort to normalize relations with the United States and Japan," said Soo Gil Park, South Korea's ambassador to the United Nations. He added that South Korea is trying to help, provided that North Korea normalizes relations with it.

Talks

North Korea is studying the four-way nation proposal. Its U.N. mission declined an interview. But Tony Namkung, director of the Seton Hall Institute on Korean Affairs, said North Korea's response will probably hinge on the three other countries' actions.

"The way in which the United States, Japan, and South Korea in concert respond to the current food situation will determine pretty much the pattern of North Korea's response to international overtures to join the community," he said.

A new international food appeal is likely to be launched by the United Nations to ease the food crisis in North Korea, which experts say could last well into next year.

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