Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 18 Feb 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------
------------------

Starvation lingers in impoverished North Korea

by Peter Harmsen
PYONGYANG, Feb 18 (AFP) - Famine, which may have wiped out
one-eighth of North Korea's population, lingers on in the
reclusive state and the regime's responses are woefully
inadequate, observers say.

With foreign aid dwindling to a trickle, one tragic aspect of
the recent mass starvation is being played out again with the
weakest members of society being hit the hardest.

"Under-nourishment still affects mothers and children, and
will continue to do so because international assistance is
decreasing," said Siri Tellier, a representative for the
United Nations Population Fund.

A famine in the 1990s, triggered by natural calamities but
worsened by dated technology and an inefficient economic
system, is one of the under-reported tragedies of the late
20th century.

Because of the highly restricted access given to foreign
visitors, estimates of the death toll range anywhere from
500,000 to three million.

Officials prefer to be vague about the extent of the
catastrophe late last decade, and some pretend it did not
even exist.

"It was definitely a difficult time, and people had much less
to eat," one told AFP. "But no one starved to death."

For an event that never happened, the famine has triggered
remarkable changes in the way people live their lives.

North Koreans who have never known anything but socialist
economics are now much more familiar with the marketplace,
and know where to swap tradable commodities -- such as
furniture -- for food.

In a country where the government has traditionally kept
strict curbs on movement, people are also traveling
relatively freely from one place to the other in search of
means to survive.

And throughout the day, when they are officially working,
many of Pyongyang's residents venture out on the frozen
Taedong river to angle for fish.

"The good thing is that through the hardship and starvation,
they now know how to survive," said Katy Oh, a California-
based expert on North Korea. "They have become more creative,
and dont just sit there and die."

Even more creativity could soon be needed, as the country
will face a shortage of 1.43 million tonnes of grain this
year, according to South Korean estimates.

To make matters worse, the United Nations World Food Program
said last month it urgently needed 80,000 tonnes of food to
feed some three million North Koreans who have not received
food aid since the autumn.

The result will almost certainly be cuts in daily rice
rations, which according to a local official were 700 grams
(24.5 ounces) before the famine and have never returned to
that level.

There is a long tradition for the regime to react to crises
by asking more of its people.

In the early 1990s, an extensive campaign urged North Koreans
to "eat only two meals a day", which in itself became an
impossible dream for most as the decade dragged on.

Planners in Pyongyang are also banking on wonder crops that
will offer an escape route for a country where only 14
percent of the land area is arable.

Late dictator Kim Il Sung praised the virtues of corn, while
his son Kim Jong Il has chosen the potato as his produce of
choice.

He has urged it planted throughout the country and has at the
same time called for a "seed revolution".

"If we introduce this kind of new technology, we will be able
to meet the demand of our people," said Ryu Sung Rim, a
foreign affairs official.

"As far as I know, it could take us only five to six years to
become self-sufficient in food," he said.

But this kind of optimistic timeta★ble amounts to "wishful
thinking", according to Oh, the California-based observer.

"North Korea has never been a food-self-sufficient country,"
she said. "It has never been a breadbasket."

ph/mp/th AFP