Emergency food aid as a means of political persuasion in the North Korean famine

Abstract

One of the last remaining communists states, North Korea, was recently hit by a series of natural catastrophes that culminated in a large-scale famine. The factors that accentuated international relations in the Korean Peninsula included such exceptional and diverse conditions as droughts, floods, famine, Communism and humanitarian aid. In understanding international politics under such heterogeneous conditions, the institution of gift-giving offers illustrative analogies. Private property in the form of sovereignty and gift-giving in the shape of humanitarian aid provide the templates which render the argumentation and action by both sides-the USA, together with its regional allies, and North Korea-expressive and meaningful. It is further argued that both sides used these institutions in an attempt to orchestrate events according to their own political logic. In the end, massive humanitarian needs and acute human suffering interlocked with politically motivated arguments and policies that persuasively took into account a complex array of issues directing attention away from the potentially compelling humanitarian argument.