N Korea begs food aid from Zimbabwe
http://www.theaustralian.com.au
* Rick Wallace, Tokyo correspondent
* From: The Australian
* March 09, 2011 12:00AM
NORTH Korea has resorted to begging for food from another impoverished
global pariah — Zimbabwe.
A diplomatic source in South Korea said Africa had become the focus of North
Korea’s aid efforts, Seoul-based newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported yesterday.
It has previously been reported that North Korea instructed its 40 foreign
embassies to request food aid. The US and Britain have confirmed requests
from Pyongyang for assistance.
“Now they are begging for food even from the world’s poorest countries in
Africa such as Zimbabwe, where annual per-capita income is only around
$US200 ($197),” the source said.
The North’s efforts to grow enough food to feed its populace have been
hampered recently by a cold snap and the spread of foot-and-mouth disease
from South Korea, which is likely to require culling of livestock.
UN teams have been assessing the state of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
Despite these problems, food production in the impoverished country
increased last year, South Korea’s foreign minister said last week, citing a
report by UN food agencies. Kim Sung-hwan said Pyongyang nevertheless
stepped up calls for international aid amid shortages caused by
mismanagement of the state-directed economy and excessive military spending.
Seoul once gave an annual 400,000 tonnes of rice to its neighbour but this
ended in 2008 as relations worsened. International irritation at the
communist country’s nuclear and missile programs has led to a drop in
donations to UN food programs.
The US special representative for North Korea policy, Stephen Bosworth, said
last week Washington was assessing the case for a resumption in food aid but
stressed the need for monitoring to ensure distribution transparency.