DATE=6/28/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NORTH KOREAN FAMINE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263830
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The top United Nations representative in North
Korea says the country is on the way to recovery from
a five-year famine and may be able to feed itself in
two years, if it has good weather and is given 250
million dollars in aid. V-O-A Correspondent Roger
Wilkison reports David Morton says the recent inter-
Korean summit and Pyongyang's diplomatic overtures to
the outside world are creating a better atmosphere for
donor countries and agencies seeking to rehabilitate
North Korea's agricultural sector.
TEXT: Mr. Morton -- the U-N's resident coordinator in
North Korea -- briefed reporters in Beijing Wednesday
on North Korea's food situation, following a meeting
June 20th in Geneva between North Korea and donors.
Mr. Morton says there was widespread agreement among
donors to help Pyongyang revive its agriculture and
repair its devastated environment.
North Korea asked donors for 250 million dollars and
promised to spend 500 million dollars of its own money
to get back on its feet over the next two years. Mr.
Morton says South Korea has already pledged 40 million
dollars worth of fertilizer to the donor package. He
says -- if other contributors do their part -- North
Korea may be able to feed its own people in the year
2002 and move away from dependence on international
aid.
///// MORTON ACTUALITY /////
If they can achieve basic food self-sufficiency by
2002 and sustain it thereafter, then the food programs
can certainly phase down.
///// END ACTUALITY /////
Mr. Morton says Pyongyang has made changes in its
collective farming system, allowing cooperatives to
elect their own leaders and taking a new look at the
importance of the bottom line.
///// MORTON ACTUALITY /////
We hear a new language nowadays, that enterprises have
to function according to economic efficiency, for
example, and that enterprises that are not profitable
will be discontinued.
///// END ACTUALITY /////
The U-N official says that, in line with this concept,
North Korean agricultural planners are now
distributing more fertilizer to productive areas of
the country, in a break with the past policy of equal
distribution to all geographic areas.
Along with these tentative reforms, Mr. Morton
stresses that North Korea is showing the international
community a more cooperative face than it has in past
years, when it was suspicious of the outside world.
///// MORTON ACTUALITY /////
The dialogue, the understanding has improved a lot
since 1998, and also the international atmosphere has,
as you know, improved a lot in the last year, with the
diplomatic initiatives and the summit, of course.
And, if it does indeed lead to reduction of tensions,
then, from our perspective, we can focus more on the
economic, agricultural recovery.
///// END ACTUALITY /////
But he says inadequate access to information and the
inability of international personnel to travel to
parts of North Korea to monitor distribution of food
and medicine are still hampering aid work. (signed)
NEB/RW/GC / WD
28-Jun-2000 06:18 AM EDT (28-Jun-2000 1018 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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