Few Donors Contribute to N. Korean Army Mess Halls

A tally as of Sunday showed the relief agency received slightly more than US$16.25 million in assistance from donor nations, up from $12.7 million in November. But the total accounts for only 15.9 percent of the $102 million the WFP says it needs for its protracted relief and recovery operation (PRRO) in North Korea. [link]

The missing context here is that the World Food Program had already dramatically scaled back its feeding operations from 6.5 million recipients, to just 1.9 million, and at North Korea’s own insistence.  In other words, donors aren’t even supporting a WFP operation that’s less than one-third the size it was two years ago, despite the fact that the food situation has gotten much worse.  North Korea’s nuclear tests — and the skewed priorities they suggest — are part of the problem, but loss of confidence in the WFP must be another.