wfn.org | CWS Sends Urgently Needed Food Aid to North Korea

["Carol Fouke" <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

For Immediate Release

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE SENDS URGENTLY NEEDED FOOD AID TO NORTH KOREA
Seeks to Address U.S.-Korea Tensions and Thus Stave Off a Greater
Humanitarian Crisis

April 3, 2003, NEW YORK CITY - Behind the mounting tensions between North
Korea and the United States remains a harsh reality - millions of North
Koreans rely on donated food aid to stay alive.  In response, the global
humanitarian agency Church World Service is continuing its eight-year-old
program of humanitarian assistance and joining with ecumenical partners to
seek to address the political impasse.

A shipment of nearly 1.5 million pounds of fortified flour, donated by CWS,
arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 26.  The flour was sent in
response to a direct appeal from the United Nations World Food Program, an
important source of aid for hungry North Koreans.  Victor Hsu, Senior
Advisor to the CWS Executive Director, is visiting North Korea April 1-5 to
monitor distribution of the donated flour.

After years of crop failures, disastrous weather and an economy that is at
best described as fragile and embattled, millions of North Koreans today
rely on this food to stay alive, said the Rev. John L. McCullough, CWS
Executive Director.

The recent breakdown in dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea (DPRK) and
the escalation in war rhetoric have severely disrupted the political climate
conducive to continued improvement in inter-Korean talks and the flow of
urgently needed humanitarian food aid, he said.

Humanitarian workers in the field say that halting humanitarian aid to
North Korea will not break this political stalemate; rather, it will leave
millions of people in a situation where they could easily slip back into a
state of crisis, the Rev. McCullough said.

Church World Service, the global humanitarian agency of the 36 Protestant,
Orthodox and Anglican member denominations of the National Council of
Churches (U.S.), has provided $4,250,029 in food aid to North Korea since
the outbreak of the food crisis in 1996, and has played a leadership role in
InterAction in encouraging humanitarian assistance to the famine-stricken
DPRK.

This latest donation - 660 metric tons (more than 1.455 million pounds) of
fortified flour, valued at $151,800 - is intended to go to baby homes,
childrens centers, nurseries, pregnant and nursing women and kindergartens
in Chagang and North Pyongan Provinces.

Mr. Hsu said that while he is in North Korea, he expects to consult with
staff of the World Food Program, particularly the Food Aid Liaison Unit
(FALU); the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee, and the Protestant Korean
Christians Federation (KCF), the largest religious association in North
Korea with an estimated 10,000 members countrywide.

"I hope to use the visit to collect first-hand impressions and information
that would be useful for our continued support of future shipments," Mr. Hsu
said.  He also indicated that North Koreas United Nations Mission had
informed him that the government would very much welcome continued
humanitarian aid by Church World Service.

United Nations Issues Urgent Appeals

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the World Food Program and UNICEF have
issued urgent appeals calling attention to the deteriorating humanitarian
crisis in North Korea.

According to the World Food Program, North Korea will need about two million
metric tons of grain from external sources, purchased or donated, in 2003.
In February, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced an initial U.S.
contribution of 40,000 tons of commodities, adding that a further 60,000
tons would be made available if improvements in WFPs ability to access the
needy and monitor distributions are allowed.

The situation this year is certainly grave given that the international
community will be able to bring in at most 250,000 metric tons, leaving the
country short by 1.75 million metric tons, Mr. Hsu said.  North Korea does
not have at its disposal the foreign currency to buy and import the deficit
amount, he said.

CWS Emergency Response Program Director Rick Augsburger noted that neither
industrial nor agro-production is able to sufficiently provide goods for
consumption and for a decent livelihood for the nations 22 million people.

On Monday (March 31), Church World Service issued its latest annual appeal
to its member churches for support of relief and rehabilitation programs in
North Korea in the areas of agriculture and health.  Relief assistance will
continue to be available in case of new disasters and for the most
vulnerable sections of the population, CWS confirmed.

U.S. and Korean Churches, Ecumenical Agencies Work Together for Peace,
Justice

Regular visits by U.S. denominational and ecumenical leaders to the DPRK
since 1985 and return visits by church leaders from both North and South
Korea provide an indication of their significant ecumenical commitment to
advocacy for peace and justice on the Korean peninsula.

Building on this longstanding and ongoing engagement with partners in North
and South Korea, Church World Service, the National Council of Churches
(U.S.) and member churches are undertaking a new effort to address the
current political impasse and the acute humanitarian needs.

CWS and the NCC have called for an urgent meeting of their member
communions, to take place April 11 in Chicago, with reference to the
burgeoning crisis on the Korean peninsula.  They will seek a common advocacy
strategy on U.S. policy toward the Korean peninsula, including the new
doctrine of preemptory strikes; lay plans for consultations in the U.S. and
Korea with Korean partners, and address the continuing humanitarian needs in
North Korea.

The effort is both a reflection of ecumenical leadership meeting to find
ways to lower tensions and to stave off the potential of a greater
humanitarian crisis, the Rev. McCullough said.

-end-

MEDIA CONTACTS: 	Carol Fouke/New York ; Phone: (212) 870-2252/2227
e-mail: news@ncccusa.org <mailto:news@ncccusa.org>

Jan Dragin/New York & Boston; Phone: (781) 925-1526;
			e-mail: jdragin@gis.net