Views of a Nepali Economist

An article from October shows that the international community's apathy towards the North Korean hunger situation risks hurting the lives of millions.

In a pediatric hospital in North Korea's most productive farming province, children lay two to a bed. All showed signs of severe malnutrition: skin infections, patchy hair, listless apathy.

...The country's dysfunctional food-distribution system, rising global commodities prices and sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs had contributed to what appears to be a hunger crisis in the North, even before devastating summer floods and typhoons compounded the emergency....The regime's appeals for massive food aid have gone mostly unanswered by a skeptical international community. Only 30 percent of a United Nations food aid target for North Korea has been met so far. The United States and South Korea, the two biggest donors before sanctions, have said they won't resume aid until they are satisfied the military-led communist regime won't divert the aid for its own uses and progress is made on disarmament talks.

...Visiting scholars, tourists and charity workers have sent out conflicting views about it....The U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), for instance, said last month after visiting the North that "the damage was not so significant." Another U.N. body, the World Food Programme, which has a regular presence in the North, warned in March of growing hunger.

...In one orphanage in Haeju, 28 children huddled together on the floor of a small clinic...Measurements taken of each child's mid-upper arm with color-coded plastic bracelets -- a standard test for malnutrition -- showed 12 were in the orange or red danger zones, meaning some could die without proper treatment...."I've never seen stunting like this before, not ever -- not even in Ethiopia," said Delphine Chedorge, deputy program manager of emergencies for MSF France.

...North Koreans on average live 11 years less than South Koreans due mainly to malnutrition, according to U.N. health indicators.

The international community's apathy towards the North Korean state is understandable. But, the children need to be saved.