Hunger Comes To North Korea (Again)

North Korean farmers work in their fields outside the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, February 25, 2008. Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty

Dispute Stalls U.S. Food Aid To N. Korea -- Washington Post

A Third of Population Needs Help, U.N. Says

TOKYO, Dec. 8 -- A much-heralded U.S. program to restart food aid to North Korea has run into difficulty as Washington and Pyongyang haggle over the terms of access, according to U.S. and overseas officials. The previously undisclosed problems come amid estimates of growing hunger in the isolated communist country.

A report released Monday by the U.N. World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization said that despite a better-than-usual harvest, more than a third of North Korea's population will need food aid in the coming year. The agencies' estimate of the number of hungry has jumped from 6.2 million to 8.7 million.

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My Comment: This was predicted in a Time Magazine piece early this year. You can ship tons and tons of food to North Korea, but the North Korean Government will only use this aid to feed its allies and punish its enemies.