[imText1]The North Korean government has not responded to the offer from the WFP (World Food Program), which would provide flood sufferers with emergency food aid.
On the 26th, Paul Leslile, spokesperson of the WFP office in Bangkok, stated, “The WFP has offered to provide residents of Sungcheon, South Pyongan province, which has been damaged by heavy raining, with food aid. However, the North Korean government has not yet agreed to accept the offer.”
Regarding possible reasons for the North Korean hesitation, the spokesperson explained, “If the North Korean government accepts the WFP aid, it will have to allow the WFP to monitor the food distribution.” Because the North Korean government does not want the flood disaster to be internationally publicized, it has refused to accept the aid
Fear of being beneath Kim Jong Il’s “dignity”
The North Korean response is same as that which it showed during the ‘March of Tribulation’, of the Great Famine. In 1995, a ‘great flood’, expected to happen only every hundred years, occured due to consecutive years of heavy rain. Landslides damaged houses, roads and railroads were destroyed, and almost all fields became submerged in water.
From 1995 to 1997, as the Great Flood continued, diseases spread and food rations ceased. Thousands of people thus began to die of starvation, and corpses lay strewn across the streets. The North Korean government was unable to deal with the destruction, or support their citizens with aid, yet they refused to request emergency aid from the international community, as they feared a loss of face.
In 1970, North Korea was included on the UN Agriculture list of countries that operated a self-sufficient economy. However, it could only provide corn to its people. Nevertheless, it aided African countries, such as Tanzania. In 1984, it hoped to create the facade of prosperity by sending 50,000 bags of rice to flood sufferers in South Korea. During the North Korean time of need, however, pride kept the nation from accepting aid from other nations.
As a result, 3,000,000 people, including 50,000 Party members faithful to the government, died of starvation. The death toll was particularly large among workers in factories and coal miners working in Jagang province and North Pyongan province.
Although Kim Jong Il witnessed thousands of people die of starvation in the mid-90’s, he is still hesitatant to receive food aid, as it would reveal internal strife to the international community.
On October 10 of last year, in celebration of the founding of the Party, North Korea resumed food rationing and ordered Pyongyang office staff to withdraw, while at the same time refusing aid from international relief organizations. This was a face-saving measure by the government, which truly did not possess the resources to carry out such an action.
Now, Kim Jong Il remains silent in order to save face, and hide the reality of the emergency, placing his dignity over the lives his people.
