wfn.org | Erich Weingartner appointed Liaison for U.N.

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

Erich Weingartner appointed liaison with World Food Program in N. Korea;
NCCCUSA Leaders Report Starvation Has Begun in N. Korea
World Food Program in North Korea
Participants in NCCCUSA Consultation Report 
Starvation Has Begun in DPRK, Strategize about 
Increasing Humanitarian Aid to N. Korea
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
U.S.A.
Internet: c/o carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

Contact: Wendy McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
NCC5/22/97  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 NEW YORK, May 22 ---- As reports come out from 
North Korea of widespread famine and of hungry 
refugees fleeing to the former Soviet Union and to 
China, the usually closed North Korean government 
has allowed a liaison officer for non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs) including church agencies to be 
based in Pyongyang where he will coordinate and 
oversee the arrival of relief aid.

 Erich Weingartner, a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church in Canada who was formerly the 
Executive Secretary in the Commission of Churches on 
International Affairs for the World Council of 
Churches (WCC), Geneva, Switzerland, will leave for 
North Korea Memorial Day weekend.  As NGO Liaison 
Officer of the United Nations World Food Program, 
Pyongyang, he will serve as liaison with the North 
Korean government and international relief agencies.  
He will report back monthly to the relief agencies 
and report on each shipment of food or aid, 
detailing its arrival and distribution.

 Mr. Weingartner's expenses will be paid by a 
coalition of church agencies, including: Church 
World Service and Action by Churches Together, World 
Vision, Caritas International, Canadian Food Grains 
Bank, Food for the Hungry and Mercycorps 
International.  Church World Service (CWS), the 
NCCCUSA's humanitarian response arm, is the lead NGO 
in North Korea and also participates in Action by 
Churches Together (ACT).  Organizationally based in 
the Lutheran World Federation and the WCC, ACT is a 
worldwide network of churches and their related 
agencies meeting human need through coordinated 
emergency response efforts.

 "We are excited about Erich Weingartner's 
appointment," said Victor W.C. Hsu, Director of the 
CWS/National Council of the Churches of Christ in 
the U.S.A. (NCCCUSA) East Asia and Pacific Office.  
"A `silent killer' in the form of a hidden famine is 
taking place in North Korea right now.  Church 
agencies, NGOs and governments need to heed the 
saying that `a hungry child knows no politics.'  Mr. 
Weingartner's presence in North Korea will allow for 
regular on-site monitoring of how and where aid is 
distributed."

 Mr. Weingartner's appointment was announced at 
a May 20 follow-up meeting to an NCCCUSA 
Consultation on "The Role of the Churches in US-
Korea Relations," which brought North and South 
Korean and U.S. church leaders together in New York 
March 17-19 to discuss current issues.  At the May 
20 meeting, Korean-American and U.S. church leaders 
involved with Korea reported on the dire situation 
in North Korea, where there is a one million ton 
deficit in the amount of grain needed to feed the 
people.

 The Rev. S. Michael Hahm, an Executive 
Secretary for Community Ministries and Development 
in the United Methodist Church, who visited North 
Korea recently, reported that the food ration system 
in North Korea is no longer working.  "Rations used 
to be 400 grams per day but are now down to 100 and, 
in some cases, zero," he said.  It takes 450 grams 
of food a day to maintain adequate nutrition.  
Because of their hunger, many people are crossing 
the China border and the Korean congregations in 
China are receiving a new influx, Rev. Hahm said.

 The Rev. Paul Kim, Director of the Korean 
American Peace Institute, reported on the efforts of 
Korean-American and South Korean churches to respond 
to the food crisis, including day-long fasts and 
significant fundraising drives.  Some more recent 
developments include bread-making and noodle 
factories set up on the border with China by Korean-
American church groups.

Rev. Kim explained that the obstacles to 
getting aid into North Korea are political, with 
South Korea insisting that North Korea must come to 
the table for four-way talks before releasing aid, 
and no South Korean politicians want to budge at 
this point since they are entering Presidential 
elections to be held in mid-December.  The United 
States government has been slow to respond because 
it wants to keep South Korea as an ally, Rev. Kim 
said.  The consultation follow-up group strategized 
about making regular lobbying visits to Washington, 
D.C. in the coming months to encourage more 
humanitarian aid.

 So far, CWS/NCCCUSA has provided $630,000 worth 
of assistance in the form of 670 metric tons of 
rice, 500 tons of barley seed and 40,000 pounds of 
corn seed shipped jointly with State Senator Stewart 
Greenleaf of Pennsylvania, who has a considerable 
Korean constituency.  In January, CWS issued a 
$500,000 appeal for North Korea, of which $150,000 
has been raised.  In 1995-96, CWS provided $410,932 
in aid which was used to purchase rice, beef, 
antibiotics, blankets and rehydration tablets.

 An NCCCUSA delegation visited the DPRK in 
January, hosted by the Korean Christians Federation, 
and reported on the "grim" food shortages facing the 
country as well as on the displacement caused by 
flooding.  Delegation members described seeing 
people "cutting trees for fuel" along the roadsides 
because of the severe energy crisis.  Delegation 
members met with both church and government 
officials and witnessed the off-loading of the 
latest CWS aid shipment of rice at Nampo Port.

 After this visit, delegation leaders appealed 
for a "massive response" from the world community to 
avert starvation.  Now, several months later, 
leaders are reporting that the starvation has begun.  
"I took a train ride (in North Korea)," Rev. Hahm 
reported.  "I saw land stripped of vegetation and 
the people look really starved, especially children.  
The slow death has already begun."

 Mr. Hsu will be traveling to North Korea from 
May 27 to June 3 and Mr. Weingartner will begin 
sending regular reports from Pyongyang in June.

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