Source: UNICEF
Date: 27 Mar 2003

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UN hails South Korean support for aid programmes in North
Korea

PYONGYANG, 27 March 2003 - Three United Nations agencies
today welcomed a substantial pledge of support by the
Republic of Korea for emergency feeding and healthcare
programmes to assist millions of vulnerable children, women
and elderly people in the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea.
In its broadest commitment to date to the UN's humanitarian
relief efforts in the North, the Seoul government has
indicated it will channel almost US $20 million this year
through the World Food Programme, the World Health
Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund.

The aid - 100,000 tonnes of maize valued at $18 million
through WFP, $700,000 for a WHO malaria prevention campaign
and $500,000 in supplies to UNICEF for child health and
nutrition programmes - is being provided in response to an
urgent appeal last month by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Following a mid-January mission to the DPRK by his personal
envoy, Maurice Strong, Annan warned of a major humanitarian
crisis unless donors responded expeditiously to the pressing
food and medical needs of the most vulnerable there.

"This very significant pledge by the Republic of Korea will
help ensure that 3.5 million hungry people, many of whom had
previously been cut from our distribution plans, receive
cereal rations for up to three months", said WFP Executive
Director James Morris.

"The ROK is clearly signalling that it has seen what UN
collaboration can do to improve the health and nutrition of
needy children and wants us to continue the good work. We
appreciate that, and we hope others do too," said UNICEF
Executive Director, Carol Bellamy.

WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland described
as "crucial" Seoul's contribution to the agency's campaign to
prevent malaria, which has resurfaced in the North after
apparently being eradicated. She added: "Like other health
interventions, it is as important an area of inter-Korean
cooperation as roads and railways."

The Republic of Korea pledges, the latest in a series by
donors to the DPRK, bring to $72 million the level of funding
secured by UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and
the Red Cross movement for key humanitarian operations during
2003. However, that is still 68 per cent short of the $225
million required to fully implement their programmes this
year.

Announcing the results last month of a survey showing
considerable improvement in child malnutrition rates since
the previous assessment in 1998, UNICEF and WFP cautioned the
gains could be lost without continued, substantial aid.

The survey indicated that the proportion of young children
underweight had dropped to 21 per cent from 61 per cent;
wasting, or acute malnutrition, fell to 9 per cent from 16
per cent; and stunting, or chronic malnutrition, was down to
42 per cent from 62 per cent. But the underweight rate was
still "high" and the stunting rate "very high", according to
WHO criteria.

"The recent commitments are very welcome, and very
necessary", said Masood Hyder, the Resident Humanitarian
Coordinator in Pyongyang. "But clearly the crisis is far from
over, and we sincerely hope other donors will step forward
soon."

For more information, please contact:

Richard Bridle, UNICEF Representative, Pyongyang, Tel. +850-2-
3817 234
Masood Hyder, Resident Humanitarian Coordinator, Pyongyang,
Tel. +850-2-3817 284
Rick Corsino, WFP Country Director, Pyongyang, Tel. +850-2-
3817 238
Eigil Sorensen, WHO Representative, Pyongyang, Tel. +850-2-
3817 914

For further information on UNICEF, visit its website at
http://www.unicef.org/