N. Korea Food Crisis Worsens

The BBC reports that North Korea is again in danger of mass starvation:

The World Food Programme (WFP) has repeated its warning of a food crisis in North Korea and says the situation is getting worse by the day. The WFP regional director, Anthony Banbury, said contributions from overseas had all but dried up.

He said the organisation was having to cut handouts to some of those most in need. North Korea has depended on food aid from overseas for the last decade. But major donors have made no new contributions this year and the WFP is warning of disaster if they do not resume shipments. Mr Banbury said governments had expressed great frustration with North Korea’s actions, and the hostile atmosphere was making them reluctant to send more aid.

I certainly don’t favor cutting off donations to the very people the North Korean government is trying to exterminate as a way of pressuring their government. As Refugees International told us in this new report, the government continues to deprive the “hostile” class and those living in “closed” areas of even basis sustenance, all of which is distributed through the government’s distribution system. We should be aiding those people directly–with food, medicine, and if necessary, with guns. How unilateralist of me to say that. So if you still have faith that the U.N. and its multilateral approach can save these people, read on (and if you’re willing to engage in a token wringing of your hands but not a lift a finger to help these people, your place is here).

Can the U.N. and the WFP save these people? We’ve never had much confidence that the food was going to those who needed it. And as Marcus Noland recently pointed out, North Korea reacted to past increases of outside food aid by spending less of its own money on food aid and more on “commercial” imports.

Any guesses what those commercial imports might be?

Short of declaring a U.N. safe area in those closed areas and a no-fly zone to allow for humanitarian food drops, I’m not sure what to say. I realize that my argument for exactly that convinced almost no one, but at least consider it as a “nuclear option” to use against neighboring countries. If Kofi Annan were to visit the border region of China near North Korea as he finally did in Darfur today, it would be a major step toward increasing pressure on everyone. Yes, my faith in the U.N., limited as it is, runs right through the bottom of a leaky, rotten vessel. But a real possibility of a safe area on its soil might cause North Korea to even out food distribution among its classes and open up some closed areas. It might pressure China into opening some actual refugee camps. It might even shame South Korea into letting in a few more refugees.