No end in sight for North Korea's malnutrition crisis

Abstract

Relief agencies have warned that millions of North Koreans are malnourished, with the most vulnerable facing starvation in the coming months, despite reports that the impoverished state has received food aid from China and South Korea. The warning comes after the sudden death of the North Korea’s former leader, Kim Jong-il, put on hold a possible deal in which it was preparing to accept 240 000 tonnes of food aid from the USA in return for suspending its uranium enrichment programme, which would give it a further means of developing nuclear weapons. Late last month, just weeks after Kim’s youngest son, Kim Jong-un, was named the North’s new leader, reports said thousands of Chinese lorries had been seen crossing the border to deliver shipments of rice. The Tokyo Shimbun, a daily newspaper in Japan, earlier reported that China had agreed to provide North Korea with 500 000 tonnes of rice and 250 000 tonnes of crude oil. China provides 45% of North Korea’s food, according to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. South Korea’s Government cut off offi cial aid in 2008 after its conservative president, Lee Myung-bak, ended the country’s “sunshine” policy of engagement with its neighbour. As the North’s new leadership warned the South against having military drills near their maritime border, it accepted a shipment of 180 tonnes of fl our to primary schools and day-care centres from the Seoul-based Korea Peace Foundation. South Korea’s Government has said it will not resume large-scale aid provision until the North begins dismantling its nuclear weapons programme, but it does allow civic groups to send essentials for children, such as fl our and medicine.