YaleGlobal on NK Food Aid

This article on YaleGlobal is a very good, hard-hitting analysis of what’s happening with food aid in North Korea, despite one significant error. It’s partially premised on North Korea’s alleged willingness to accept South Korean-recommended agricultural reforms, despite Andrei Lankov’s recent reports that North Korea is doing just the opposite. Still, passages like this one redeem the entire article with their clarity and honesty:

By limiting the source of food assistance to China and South Korea, a more reliable partner than the United Nations, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il hopes to avoid opening up the politically sensitive hinterland for monitoring by a variety of international food donors.

Closing the door on the international food agency means the regime is determined to safeguard its security ““ even at the risk of triggering a new famine.

The article concludes that North Korea is cutting off outside food aid because it’s terrified of the rising political cost of letting its people see that outsiders are feeding them. That fits our knowledge of how this regime thinks. Author Shim Jae Hoon closes with some extremely insightful questions:

As for the North, its food crisis is far from over. Depending on the vagaries of weather, it could easily face a new outbreak of starvation. If that happened, neither China nor South Korea would be politically equipped to deal with the new crisis. Having acquiesced in eviction of international donors, how would they appeal for new international aid? And will Kim Jong-il remain strong enough to survive a second round of famine? Certainly, these are challenges facing both Seoul and Beijing.