Seoul Summit: On food aid and ‘military first’

(by guest blogger Andy Jackson)

This a part of a series of posts on the Seoul Summit: Promoting Human Rights in North Korea and related events. The portions in the blockquote were taken from my notes. I apologize for any inaccuracies

The following are small samples of the presentations during the second session of the Seoul Summit on Friday, December 9, 2005: Conference on Strategy for North Korean Human Rights Improvement. I have provided links when I could so you could find out more about the speakers and their organizations.

Dr. Ahn Byung-jik, economist and Professor Emeritus at Seoul National University:

What visible positive outcome has come from the 2000 South Korea-North Korea summit?

[The policies of self-reliance and “˜military first’] mean that North Korea will not fundamentally change. There have been some outward changes but those in South Korea who think this will lead to fundamental changes are just engaging in wishful thinking. The existence of the Kim Jong-il regime is no excuse not to give aid to North Korea but there must be transparency. Aid should not be used to extend the live of the regime.

Michael Horowitz (see my previous post on Horowitz’s statement)

Dr Ahn Young-sop, Professor of North Korean studies at Myung Ji Univiversity:

The more dictatorial a system, the fewer human rights a people will have.

North Korea needs the most immediate attention in the world.Many people look at political rights and civil liberties. In North Korea, those rights are luxuries for a people lacking food and medicine. The North Korea people need necessities urgently.

Kim Young-hwan basically gave a condensed version of the lecture he gave a Sogang University on November 26.

Kang Cheol-hwan, Co-chairman, Democracy Network against NK Gulag:

North Korea is still conducting a “˜military first’ policy. If you continue to provide supplies, it will help the KJI regime. So I oppose any kind of aid in North Korea that helps the regime. Some think that, if we cut aid, the people of North Korea will suffer [but], from the perspective of defectors, unrestricted aid is a problem.

For Kang quotes at an earlier, see here.

Yoon Yeo-sang, Chairman, Database Center for North Korean Human Rights:

North Korean refugees face serious human rights problems. The South Korean government should provide matching funds so that North Korean refugees get at least 1% of the money. North Korean refugees in China should get 10% of subsistence (food) aid.

I think that Yoon has an excellent idea, if (and it’s a big if) China can be brought into cooperation (see the Horowitz link above). I would certainly like to see the Republic of Korea seek to help those in China who are legally its citizens.

I do see one potential problem. One of the iron rules of economic is that, if you subsidize something, you get more of it. Food aid for refugees in China might encourage more North Koreans to cross the border, especially those in the north-central regions that Pyongyang had cut off from international food aid. The policy of the Roh Moo-hyun administration is to discourage people from escaping from North Korea.