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More on Food Aid: Another interesting article on NK’s rejection of food aid, which goes into somewhat greater detail than those I’ve linked below. I have a quibble with the reporter, a very nice man who claims to be an OFK regular, who says of Jay Lefkowitz, “His remarks sparked attention because what he said isn’t in line with the state department’s existing policy not to link humanitarian aid with human rights.”
Food–specifically, the government’s denial of it to millions of its people–is the biggest human rights issue in North Korea. If Lefkowitz is saying that we should halt all food aid until North Korea is a perfect Jeffersonian democracy, then I disagree with Lefkowitz. That’s not what Lefkowitz seems to be saying. What I hope Lefkowitz will clarify–and what I think he means–is that the first human rights issue that we’re going to insist on is getting food into the bellies of the people who need it most, and work from there.