U.N.: Millions Hungry in North Korea

[phantom power]

With shriveled harvests and a cutback in imports, North Korea has slipped back into a serious food shortage that is causing millions of people to go hungry, the United Nations announced Wednesday.

(...)

The ballooning food crisis began mainly because of flooding last summer that damaged fields, leading to insufficient crops and soaring food prices. At the same time, de Margerie said, imports dropped dramatically this spring, particularly from South Korea and China.

This exacerbated a perennial shortfall of around 20 percent, or 1.6 million tons, in the amount of food needed to adequately nourish North Korea's 23 million inhabitants. As a result, prices of such staples as rice, eggs and corn doubled, tripled and even quadrupled, de Margerie said.

People living in the worst-hit areas, particularly the northeast corner of the country, have taken to scavenging for grass, seaweed and wild roots to supplement their diets, he said. More than half the households surveyed by a U.N. team last month had cut back from three meals to two meals a day because of lack of food, he added.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073000578.html?hpid=topnews

[DCKit]

1. I'm thinking the border area between N. and S. Korea looks much like...

that between Haiti and their neighbor on the same island.

[Doctor Cynic]

24. No it's not.

It's the most militarized place on earth. NO ONE bar NO ONE can cross it.

Though there are thousands of NK refugees in China, who can easily blend into the background.

[izquierdista]

2. Incompetence

This is not just bad central planning, this is incredibly stupid central planning. To cause a famine in a country where the national dish is pickled cabbage, requires serious diversion of normal human activities like hunting, gathering, fishing and farming into less productive activities like rehearsing for the next cast of 100,000 production of the Arirang. Almost every agricultural practice guaranteed to cause crop failure has been enthusiastically embraced and those which would improve production avoided.

[bhbwl]

3. And why won't chimpy do anything for them?

Same reason he didn't do anything for African Americans in New Orleans.

Same reason he didn't do anything for African Americans in Houston.

Same reason he didn't do anything for Africans in Darfur.

Same reason he didn't do anything for Myanmar.

If the people of the DPRK die, we know who has the bloody hands.

BHO can't come fast enough to save these people is my only regret.

[Codeine]

4. It's hard to send relief to North Korea.

Even China gets burned doing it; the Koreans steal the half the rail cars the Chinese use to ship the stuff to Pyongyang. And the regime is notorious for withholding food for it's privileged.

And we do send them food aid, as do our regional allies in Japan and South Korea. American donations have decreased, but this was largely because things were going better in NK. Now with the increased threat of famine and the growing air of rapproachment it's entirely likely we will increase shipments again.

The Junior Chimp is a complete asshole, but let's not blame him for the rampant stupidity of the North Korean regime.

[bhbwl]

7. I'm not blaming him for North Korea's "stupidity"...

I'm blaming him for not doing anything to help starving people ANYWHERE.

As to "stupidity," isn't that sort of blaming the victim? This claim that "the regime is notorious for withholding food for its privileged" sounds like just the kind of excuse chimpy would use for not sending anything. Fits the storyline well.

I don't care what the DPRK are doing officially; all I know is that people are starving and we're doing NOTHING.

Again.

And I also know that they'll keep on starving until Obama gets in the White House. He's their--and our--last, best hope.

[Codeine]

8. We aren't doing "nothing,"

we do send food aid. We could send more, sure, but we do send it, and SK and Japan send tons too. So does China.

[Codeine]

9. As for you other comments

pointing out that the problem is self-created isn't blaming the victim, it's stating a fact. And the "claim" is not an excuse, it's a simple fact as well; even when you do send food people still starve!

[bhbwl]

10. I submit, rather, that the problem cannot be self-created...

The story we're being told about North Korean corruption is just another repub lie.

Think about it. Isn't it in chimpy's best interests to keep the DPRK isolated and held out as the boogeyman-du-jour? Tyrants always need enemies to keep the people mystified, and tiny North Korea is hardly in any position to stand up to the American juggernaut. The conservative MSM goes merrily along with the partyline, and the result is that we have no clue as to the truth of why the North Korean people are REALLY starving.

If Pyongyang has enough wherewithal to build a nuclear weapon, it has enough wherewithal to feed its own. That tells me several things:
-The problem lies external to the DPRK, and
-The obvious culprit is the man responsible for creating the "Axis of Evil," an entity which didn't exist before chimpy invented it. Doesn't it make sense for chimpy to permit them to develop nukes in order to have someone to rattle his sabers against? And now, by withholding food (fer the love of God!), he can be seen by his supporters and cronies as being "tough" on North Korea, as well as a potential source of revenue for his lackeys in the Military Industrial Complex.

I flatly refuse to believe that the DPRK is anything but the victim of American selfish greed, same as the rest of the world.

[Codeine]

11. You are profoundly wrong.

North Korea was starving, and horrifically so, long before the Chimpster became pResident. Millions (perhaps as many as 3 million, though the figure remains uncertain) starved after the fall of the Soviet Union spelled the end of the large scale aid and subsidies that the Korean regime had been receiving for years. Their Beloved Leader is quite simply incapable of running a state economy in such a way as to make it successful.Additional pressure was felt as huge flooding devastated much of their farmland in 1995. Notice that this was well before Commander Bunnypants took office.

Their nuclear program is, in large part, a success because of the efforts of one AQ Khan and his peddling of Pakistani nuclear technology.

I understand your cynicism, but you are wrong on this one.

[bhbwl]

12. "Millions starved after fall of Soviet Union..."

Who was President during the fall of the Soviet Union?

The imbecile reagan and BUSH THE ELDER. Think either of them would lift a finger on North Korea's behalf? chimpy's just the latest symbol of a hateful and oppressive power structure that goes back all the way to the repuke's founding. The DPRK never had a prayer of a chance, so long as a repuke was in the White House. Notice how things only got better when a Democrat lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

I wonder if I'm really so wrong after all.

[Codeine]

13. Dude, the famine was in 1995.

Seriously. Clinton administration, and we sent over $664 million in aid to NK, over half over their total international aid package.

For fuck's sake.

[bhbwl]

15. There you go. Proves my point...

It takes a Democrat to get any help to starving people. Which is why I look forward to Obama taking office. Much less of the world will go hungry, and the only shame is that he can't start right now.

[Codeine]

19. Which part of

our current food aid program do you not understand? We've been sending them aid, all through the Bush administration. This revived famine threat is new, and will be dealt with.

[izquierdista]

14. Not a lie

In this case, they tell the truth. It is a convenient truth for them, since they can point to it as a failure of Communism. Not like the inconvenient truth that Cuba has fatalities due to hurricanes at <1% of the US rate.

You should check some of the videos on Youtube of people who have traveled to North Korea. I won't believe what the MSM says about North Korea, but there is plenty of independent video all showing the cult of personality, the misallocation of resources, the lack of human necessities (food, clothing, energy). What is harder to find is video of starving people digging up roots and picking spilled rice grains out of dirt so they can eat. Even harder to find is information about prison camps and the numerous capital punishments that are carried out.

North Korea does NOT have the wherewithal to build a nuclear weapon AND feed its people. Their priorities are completely screwed up, with the Army first, practicing for the next performance of the Arirang second, and food for the peasants in last place. They have isolated themselves from their neighbors following their Juche philosophy to an extreme end, yet they were dependent on subsidies from China and the Soviet Union. (http://www.iie.com/publications/wp/03-5.pdf)

They have been a victim of American policies, but they have also wedged themselves like a turtle backed into a rock with no alternative way out. It is going to be extremely difficult to coax them out and impossible while Dumbya is still flapping his gums.

I think a good overture would be to send them 1 million cherry trees (just like the ones in Washington DC, a similar friendship offering) as that would be tens of millions of pounds of edible cherries for people that are "food insecure". But that has a less than 50-50 chance of working, since Kim Jong Il might decide to have them shredded to look for listening devices before they are planted.

[bhbwl]

17. That paper is nothing but anti-progressive spin...

The author's bias against progressivism is blatantly apparent.

Besides, if you were a tiny country being constantly trampled (and having been brutally invaded, I might add) by a global hegemon, wouldn't you find yourself "wedging in like a turtle" merely in the interest of self-preservation?

By the way, interesting use of a Korean cultural symbol to make an ideological point. I'm trying to assume you meant only good will by doing so.

[Codeine]

20. "Brutally invaded by a global hegemon?"

North Korea invaded South Korea, and was pushed back by a United Nations force.

Progressivism does not mean being an apologist for the Kim regime.

[bhbwl]

25. If America hadn't invaded North Korea...

...why did the Chinese get involved?

America could have stopped at the 38th parallel (the original partition between North and South Korea after WWII) and been no worse than it usually is. Rather, they decided they could march anywhere they wanted to, and where they wanted to was right through North Korea up to the Yalu river. The Chinese rightly assumed that they weren't going to stop, so guess what?

STOMP!

They had "won" up to the 38th parallel. They LOST when they got power-mad (power-mad repubs? Quelle surprise) and woke the dragon to the north.

[Codeine]

26. "America" didn't invade shit.

The United Nations did.

[izquierdista]

21. Spin or not

One has to deal with reality. You know, the same reality that has a liberal bias?

They need to wake up to modern realities and look at other small countries that are making a success of themselves while being dwarfed next to huge neighbors with a penchant for hegemony. Lithuania and Slovenia have been doing well lately, and it's not because 5% of their population is conscripted into the army.

There really is no excusing how the leadership in North Korea has abused the common citizen and worker. They have made mistakes typical of Communist central planning, thinking that they can engineer their way past nature, growing crops that are not suited to the area, and building dam and flood control projects that actually exacerbate the problem. How they managed to fall into famine, this in a country where pickled cabbage is the national dish, is beyond me. Cabbage is one of the most productive vegetable crops cultivated, yet they managed to ruin what centuries of culture had equipped them with. Cuba has made great progress becoming self-sufficient gardeners with adequate food available to all. Why does North Korea insist on factory type farming that fails when the fertilizer and energy inputs are not there?

Yes, I do think the U.S. needs to make a culturally significant gesture to bury the hatchet and officially end the state of war that still exists. A million plum* trees might be a good way to start. Plant them along all the roads and highways and ringing the cities so that everywhere the people look, they can see that the United States wants to be at peace with them. That might just dial down the rhetoric that feeds the Boltons on both sides of the issue.

*Edited due to cross-cultural confusion. Just send them something that will make them smile.

[JonQ]

22. They starved for 8 years

under Clinton as well. Did you blame him for their predicament? It's not like life was great for the North Koreans until 2000. It's been miserable as long as Kim Il has been in power. Is Bush to blame for many things? Yes, obviously. Is he at fault in this particular instance? Nope.

Some things aren't Americas fault. And beyond invading and having the US military distribute the food (a terrible idea all around) there's not much we can do to ensure that their government actually gives the food to those who need it, rather than keeping it for themselves or selling it for weapons.

[hogwyld]

18. As bad as the chimpster is

He's not responsible for every single act of evil in the world. The DPRK government is a horrifically run "government" I put it in quotes as they give government a bad name. He did try to send assistance to Myanmar (Burma), but that government refused to allow the ships to dock.
I am no fan of booooosch, but be real. There are limits on what can and cannot be done. I've been to Korea (south) and if you go up to the DMZ, you can see just how badly that country (NK) is run.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. And I thought NK was a fairly backwards country...

...turns out they're actually five years ahead of rest of us. Who'd have thunk it.

[stuntcat]

6. whoa..

yah.. this sure would be a good thing for us to pay attention to.

Everybody I know takes their groceries for granted, part of why our food's so cheap is because the industry's so supported by our govt. . let's all hope together that they'll keep up with the changes they helped start.

[GliderGuider]

16. DPRK and Cuba are bookends on a spectrum

Both suffered a virtually complete loss of oil imports from the Soviet Union when it collapsed. Each suffered a loss of over 50% of their oil supplies. However, Cuba had two advantages -- good growing conditions for food, and a government that made a few crucial correct decisions. DPRK's growing conditions are relatively abysmal and its government has a severe case of recto-cranial inversion. These two factors seem to spell the difference between survival and collapse in a world of declining oil.

[JonQ]

23. I don't think any amount of charity

will really help the North Korean people as long as Kim Il Jong is in office. Getting rid of him would be a major step in the right direction, but I don't see how that's going to happen.

[bhbwl]

27. And how do you "get rid of him?"

More American global imperialism?

[GliderGuider]

28. He didn't say "you" had to get rid of him.

Your interpretation of his statement was incorrect.
Action by the North Korean people would be a lot more legitimate and a lot more effective. And just as unlikely.

[JonQ]

29. Idealy

the North Koreans rise up against the government. However that seems very unlikely. Unfortunately at this point it looks like what's going to happen is the entire government collapses on itself and someone has to pick up the pieces, maybe the south (ala East and West Germany).

At this point there is no pleasant solution. But at least it is easy to identify their problem. And contrary to your opinion their problem lies with Kim Il Jong, not George W Bush.

[Codeine]

30. No, that won't help.

But neither will being an apologist for a sick regime for no other reason than the fact that they dislike Bush.