Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

South Korea Agrees To Ship Corn To Starving North

Associated Press

South Korea agreed Friday to send 50,000 tons of corn to starving North Koreans, its second massive food shipment to its communist neighbor in three months.

Meanwhile, a North Korean Red Cross official warned a drought at the height of the growing season is worsening his country’s food shortages.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of crops have been affected by the lack of rain, said Choe Gyung Rin, secretary-general of the North Korean Red Cross.

“This kind of situation really affects considerably the general food production for this year,” Choe said.

Choe spoke at the end of three days of talks with counterparts from the South Korean Red Cross, who agreed to send the food despite North Korea’s refusal to let donors specify who will get the aid.

South Korean donors had wanted to designate donated food for relatives in the communist country, an opportunity that would boost support for the controversial shipments.

Two years of flooding and bad harvests, after years of agricultural mismanagement, have pushed North Korea to the brink of famine. North Korea estimates that one-third of its children under age 6 are malnourished.

U.N. agencies said North Korea, the world’s last Stalinist country, needs about 800,000 tons of foreign food aid before its October harvest to avert widespread famine. South Korea already sent 50,000 tons of grain under an agreement signed in May.

The United States, Japan, China and other countries have donated several hundred thousand tons of food.

The negotiators, meeting at a plush Beijing hotel, needed just 10 minutes Friday to reach the final agreement following lengthy talks Wednesday and Thursday.

The new aid, corn bought from China, will be delivered in five shipments between July and September, said Lee Byong-woong, secretarygeneral of the South Korean Red Cross.

Lee said the supplies should cost about $10 million.

Choe expressed gratitude to the South Korean government and private donors, but pointedly noted that the amount was smaller than donations from other countries.

The corn will feed 740,000 North Koreans, or about 3 percent of the population, between July and November, according to Johan Schaar, regional representative for the International Federation of Red Cross Societies, which is monitoring the shipments.