wfn.org | CWS Plans $500,000 More Aid for North Korea

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

CWS Plans More Aid for North Korea
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Internet: wendym@ncccusa.org

Contact: Wendy S. McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227

NCC1/13/97   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

************************************************************
EDITORS: When listing organizations receiving funds for 
humanitarian response to the North Korea food crisis, please 
include:

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. North Korea Food Crisis, #7633U, 
P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.  Phone pledges or credit 
card donations: 1-800-762-0968.

CWS works in more than 70 countries, including the U.S., in 
disaster relief, human development and refugee assistance.  
It is a ministry of the National Council of Churches, the 
nation's preeminent ecumenical organization which includes 
34 Protestant and Orthodox member communions with a combined 
membership of 52 million.
************************************************************

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE PLANS $500,000 MORE AID FOR NORTH KOREA

NEW YORK, Jan. 13 ---- Church World Service (CWS) is 
planning another $500,000 in aid to help North Koreans 
survive their next crucial "crunch" in March or April, when 
basic food supplies will again start to run dry and a 
harvest will still be four to five months away.

The $500,000 will be raised from individuals and CWS 
member communions.  $250,000 will go towards food shipments 
and $250,000 towards the purchase of livestock and freight 
costs.  The Korean Christians Federation, a CWS partner in 
North Korea, has also requested CWS supply portable 
greenhouses and solar electric generators, so CWS is 
welcoming designated contributions for these items.

Since 1995, Church World Service has sent more than 
$2.2 million worth of rice, corn, barley, beef, antibiotics, 
blankets and clothing to help alleviate famine-related 
suffering in North Korea.  This and other outside aid is 
improving life in North Korea, and points to North Korea's 
emergence from isolation, said Victor Hsu, Director of the 
CWS East Asia and Pacific Program, but he cautioned that 
humanitarian efforts must be redoubled to help the North 
Korean people through a critical time in upcoming months.

"Aid provided last year has made the current winter 
months more endurable, but the country's people remain in 
peril," said Mr. Hsu, who last visited North Korea in 
November.

"The entire international community is less pessimistic 
now about North Korea, and North Korea does seem to have 
turned a corner in responding to the terrible effects of the 
calamities of recent years," Mr. Hsu said.  "But this is no 
time for humanitarian organizations to rest on laurels."  In 
addition to the more than two years of floods and drought 
that have destroyed much of the nation's crops and weakened 
its food security, North Korea's topography and climate have 
long made it prone to food shortages.  Only 20% of North 
Korea's land is arable.

On January 6, UN officials said North Korea now needs 
more than a million tons of food assistance and the World 
Food Program plans to provide 724,000 tons to nearly 7.5 
million people, roughly a third of the nation's population 
of 23 million.

Mr. Hsu explained that even after the "crunch" time 
this spring, because of ongoing food shortages, "once grains 
are harvested, they are consumed, so Koreans will face an 
extreme food shortage very quickly.  They have no room to 
save and feed."

Moreover, "people are afraid of the cumulative effects 
(of malnutrition and hunger)," Mr. Hsu said.  "I foresee 
much more illness among the young and the elderly."

North Korea Emerges, Bit by Bit, from International 
Isolation

 At a meeting last month with international relief 
officials, Li Hyong Chul, North Korea's Ambassador to the 
United Nations, said that food stuffs remain the most basic 
priority and the development of livestock is a second, 
"middle-term" priority.

Mr. Hsu commented that outreach by the North Korean 
Ambassador is one of many steps making it clear that, bit by 
bit, North Korea is emerging from its international 
isolation.  Talks between North and South Korea, China and 
the United States on easing lingering tensions caused by the 
Korea War continue at a "positive, if measured pace," Mr. 
Hsu said.

Another significant step, he said, is a $29 million 
loan by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, 
a UN agency, to assist North Korea begin a program 
initiating small local units of farming production.  "North 
Korea's own willingness to look into various ways of seeking 
international assistance, including low-interest loans from 
a UN agency, indicates an opening to adjusting its basic 
ideology of self-reliance," Mr. Hsu explained.  "In turn, 
this openness is being welcomed by Western nations."  The 
United States abstained, rather than opposing the UN 
measure, a clear sign that tensions between North Korea and 
the United States are easing somewhat, he said.

Mr. Hsu visited North Korea in November as part of a 
five-member delegation representing Interfaith Hunger Appeal 
(IHA), a coalition of Jewish, Protestant and Catholic hunger 
relief organizations.

Last year, CWS member denominations contributed 
$681,574 towards a $500,000 appeal issued Dec. 23, 1996.  A 
CWS shipment of 1,200 metric tons (1,323 U.S. tons) of corn 
arrived in North Korea last fall, and delayed shipments of 
830 pounds of antibiotics and seven 20-foot containers of 
clothing are scheduled to arrive this month.

Also last year, CWS sent 500 tons of barley seed to 
North Korea as part of a double-cropping experiment that 
involved a total of 10,000 tons of grain seed donated by 
international relief agencies which yielded a harvest of 
150,000 tons of grain.

In addition, CWS/Action by Churches Together (ACT) 
International has been the coordinating agency for the 
secondment of Erich Weingartner to the World Food Program's 
Pyongyang office.  He serves as liaison with non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) for their shipments and 
visits.

-end-
 -0-