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SLUG: 2-303671 North Korea / Aid
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DATE=05/27/03 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-303671 TITLE=NORTH KOREA / AID (L) BYLINE=KATE POUND DAWSON DATELINE=HONG KONG CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A top international aid agency says North Korea is in a precarious situation with starvation looming unless food supplies continue. As V-O-A's Kate Pound Dawson reports, the comments come the same day the South Korean government says it will slow down food shipments to the North if relations with Pyongyang worsen over its nuclear programs. TEXT: International aid agency Caritas is appealing for more than two and a half million dollars to help get food and medical aid to North Korea. Kathi Zellweger coordinates the Caritas' operations in North Korea from her office in Hong Kong. Since 1995, she has made more than 40 trips to the North the last one was in April. In a speech Tuesday, she warns that the communist country is in desperate need of help. /// ZELLWEGER ACT 1 /// Life for the ordinary North Korean is a grim struggle for survival. . Food for survival and growth is still very much needed.. Right now, the rations are down to 250 or 270 grams, and that is less than a thousand calories per day. /// END ACT /// North Korea's economy has been collapsing for more than a decade. The situation worsened in the mid-1990's when floods and drought caused a famine. Foreign aid since then has improved the situation, but Ms. Zellweger says more help is needed. /// ZELLWEGER ACT 2 /// It would not take long for North Korea to slip back into hunger and famine.. Caritas feels that the North Korean people need and deserve assistance, and that humanitarian aid and politics should be kept apart. /// END ACT /// Ms. Zellweger says Caritas, a Roman Catholic charity based in Rome, provides food to the North's most vulnerable citizens: children and pregnant women. The process, she says, has slowly led to greater openness and cooperation from the North Korean government and the people. Aid programs, however, have faced difficulties in the last seven months as North Korea has faced off with the international community over its nuclear ambitions. Ms. Zellweger says the tensions have made some donors reluctant to contribute to North Korea. She says a U-S-led decision to cut off fuel donations to Pyongyang has hampered efforts to increase food production. On Tuesday, the South Korean government said it would slow down aid shipments if Pyongyang escalates the nuclear dispute. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun spoke with President Bush late Monday. He reiterated that Seoul will work closely with the United States and Japan to solve the nuclear dispute diplomatically. Washington has made clear that the only acceptable solution is for North Korea to keep its numerous commitments to be nuclear free. (Signed) NEB/HK/KPD/JO |
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