Thursday, May 02, 2002
Cut in U.N. food aid `will affect children'
UNITED NATIONS MAY 1 . The United Nations will cut food distribution to more than one million children and elderly people in North Korea because of a cutback in international aid. In November, the U.N. appealed for $258 millions so that international relief organisations could respond to the most urgent needs in North Korea. But thus far, just $23.5 millions has been pledged, said the Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Kenzo Oshima, on Tuesday. "Simply put, unless donors act quickly, more than 6 million of the country's most vulnerable — primarily women, children and the elderly — may face acute and indeed life-threatening shortages of food, medicines and clean drinking water," he said. In an initial cutback, the new Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP), James Morris, said the U.N. agency was suspending food distribution to more than 350,000 elderly people and 675,000 children within the next few weeks. The WFP, which currently feeds about 6.4 million of North Korea's 22 million people, will continue to supply food to the groups most at risk — orphans, young children and pregnant and nursing women, he said. Earlier this month, the agency warned that North Korea would likely face an acute food crisis this summer because the world was focussed on helping Afghanistan. "I think it's fair to say there are a number of countries that remain forgotten emergencies,' said Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund. "This is one." In the past, the United States, South Korea and Japan have been major contributors, along with some European countries. But Japan has not provided any assistance this year, Mr. Oshima said. The WFP has received some support for the current period from the U.S., Finland and South Korea, Mr. Morris said. North Korea has relied on foreign donations to help feed its people since 1995, when its secretive Stalinist regime revealed, after decades of economic decline, that its state-run farm industry had collapsed. The Government says losses have been worsened by drought and flooding, with at least 220,000 people having died of hunger-related complications. U.S. congressional investigators say the true death toll could be as high as 2 million. The three U.N. officials stressed that substantial progress has been made in improving health in North Korea. "Severe malnutrition has decreased significantly since the mid-to-late 1990s, but I would report as well there is still widespread chronic malnutrition," Ms. Bellamy said, noting that supplies of sugar, vitamins and minerals that are key for youngsters are all but exhausted. "We don't want to backslide on the progress we've made," Mr. Morris said. "We need pledges now, because once a pledge is made it takes two to four months to get that food into the stomach of a hungry North Korean."
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