Giving Up on the U.N.

Fred Fry has concluded that the U.N. will never do anything to save the North Korean people, and he  thinks it’s time for us to quit expecting otherwise.  He makes a compelling case, and  I’ve cited and quoted  plenty of the sources he quotes.  It’s not a case I can really refute.

And still, I hold out hope.  First, some credit is due; the U.N. World Food Program probably did save many lives with its feeding operations between 1998 and 2005.  We will soon see just how bad things will get without the aid that may have sustained a third of North Korea’s people.  I also believe that far more North Koreans would have been saved if the U.N. had been more assertive, and if China and South Korea had not undercut WFP demands for greater transparency through their unilateral, unmonitored aid.

Another reason for hope is Ban Ki Moon.  It’s not that he’s morally superior to Kofi Annan.  But unlike Annan, who was a corrupt and malicious man, Ban is so spinless and pliable that if our own government would make a public priority of this issue, the WFP would stand up to the North Koreans and insist on making sure that the food went to those who really need it.

What I hope Fred and his readers will consider is that the North Korean people are not Kim Jong Il’s wasting assets.  They are  the victims of  his greatest  crime against humanity.