DATE=11/29/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PERRY - NORKOR FOOD (L-O)
NUMBER=2-256625
BYLINE=STEPHANIE MANN
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton's special advisor for U-S
policy toward North Korea has dismissed congressional
criticism of American food aid to that country.
Correspondent Stephanie Mann reports former Defense
Secretary William Perry told a Washington gathering
(Monday) those food shipments should continue.
TEXT: William Perry says international relief workers
in North Korea have assured him that shipments of food
are reaching their intended destinations. He
disagrees with some members of the Congress who say
food shipments are not adequately monitored and should
be discontinued.
In a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Mr. Perry
said U-S food aid is sent through the U-N World Food
Program. He adds that relief workers say they monitor
food distribution to the county level.
// PERRY ACT //
The best indication that I have that the food
gets to the people for whom it is intended is
the relief agencies report to me that they see a
dramatic decrease in the starving and the
deprivation, and the stunting of the children
for whom this food is intended during the last
few years.
// END ACT //
Mr. Perry says relief agencies estimate North Korea
needs about five-million-tons of grain a year to keep
its people at a subsistence level. Starvation can be
expected if the grain level dips below four-million-
tons a year.
He says North Korea has recently been producing three
to three-and-one-half-million-tons of grain each year.
The difference has been made up by shipments from the
United States and China -- totaling about one-half-
million-tons annually. Mr. Perry says that has helped
ease the level of starvation in North Korea in the
past two-years.
Mr. Perry says North Korea probably ensures that much
of the three-million tons it produces goes to feed the
elite in Pyongyang and the military. Whether or not
the United States sends food aid, Mr. Perry says the
elite and the soldiers will be fed. Therefore, he
says the United States should continue its food aid on
humanitarian grounds so people in the countryside get
help.
// REST OPT //
William Perry says North Korea's severe food shortage
is not just the result of seasonal flooding and
drought, but is caused by ineffective agricultural and
distribution systems. (SIGNED)
NEB/SMN/RAE
29-Nov-1999 13:39 PM EDT (29-Nov-1999 1839 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
