wfn.org | CWS Flour Distributed in North Korea; Helps Mother, Child

["Church World Service News" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS FLOUR DISTRIBUTED IN NORTH KOREA; HELPS MOTHER, CHILD NUTRITION

Photos Available; See Contacts Below

April 11, 2003, NEW YORK CITY -- If you ask Church World Service senior
staffer Victor W.C. Hsu about his trip to North Korea April 1-5, be
prepared -- his description of the smell and taste of fresh-baked bread
could make your mouth water.

Mr. Hsu, Senior Advisor to the CWS Executive Director, visited North Korea
to monitor delivery of a CWS donation of 1.5 million pounds of fortified
flour, intended for children under age seven, pregnant women and nursing
mothers -- among the most vulnerable of millions of hungry North Koreans who
rely on donated food aid to stay alive.

He visited seven of 20 beneficiary institutions, four of them outside
Pyongyang, North Korea's capital city.	He found the 55-pound CWS bags in
good condition in storerooms and kitchens of baby homes, children's centers
and maternity hospitals in Pyongyang, the port city of Nampho on the west
coast, and South Phyongan Province.

"In each place I was able to determine that the fortified flour was used in
a variety of ways," Mr. Hsu reported.  "Some use it to make plain buns as
snacks.  Several mix the flour to make fried dough, apparently most popular
with the children.  Others make a Japanese-style tempura.  As for babies,
the flour is mixed with other ingredients to make a nutritious gruel."

At the South Phyongan Children's Center, Mr. Hsu took a picture of a tray of
fresh-baked buns -- and had a taste.  "Delicious!" he said with a smile.

The CWS flour, valued at $151,800, reached Pyonyang by train from Dandong,
China, in three shipments March 19-26 and was promptly divided up and
transferred to the beneficiary institutions, Mr. Hsu confirmed.  CWS sent
the flour in response to a direct appeal from the United Nations World Food
Program, an important source of aid for hungry North Koreans.

"After years of crop failures, disastrous weather and an economy that is
best described as fragile and embattled, millions of North Koreans rely on
this food aid to stay alive," said the Rev. John L. McCullough, CWS
Executive Director.  CWS, the global humanitarian agency of the 36
Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member denominations of the National
Council of Churches (NCC), 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
that famine-stricken nation.
Mr. Hsu reported that, to his "untrained eye, the babies and children
outside Pyongyang were certainly in need of more care.	Their physical
premises were rundown.	Their clothing, bedding and cots looked too used and
old.  The physical appearance of many of the children distressed me.  Many
required cleaning and some looked slightly stunted.

"Most of the children in the children's centers in South Pyongan Province
and Nampho City were orphans," he continued.  "I was unable to obtain a
clear picture of how they became orphans.  Certainly they are very lucky to
have these centers that care for them and provide them with some
kindergarten level education.  However, their physical appearance reminds me
of the street children I come across in my travels around the world."

While in North Korea, Mr. Hsu also met with Rick Corsino, World Food Program
Country Director; Umberto Greco, head of the WFP's Food Aid Liaison Unit;
senior officials of North Koreas Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee, and
two officials of the Protestant Korean Christians Federation, a
long-standing CWS and NCC partner.

The emergency officers of the WFP and other U.N. agency staff reported that
they have been able to function according to agreements and that monitoring
conditions had not deteriorated, Mr. Hsu said.

Church World Service food aid over the years has contributed to significant
reduction of malnutrition among North Korean children since 1998, Mr. Hsu
confirmed.  In 1998, 61 percent of children under age seven were underweight
for their age; in 2002, 21 percent.  Wasting, or acute malnutrition, has
fallen from 16 percent to 9 percent.  Stunting, or chronic malnutrition, has
dropped from 62 percent to 42 percent, he said.

"With these positive developments, the U.N. community in North Korea became
extremely alarmed in the last quarter of 2002 with the possibility of a
drastic drop in food aid," Mr. Hsu said.  "A serious shortage in 2003 would
require a reduction in the ration, which has been holding steady for some
time.  It threatens to undo the positive gains in the health of children
under 7.

"For that reason, the heads of the WFP and UNICEF as well as Secretary
General Kofi Annan sounded the alarm bells urging the U.N. member states and
the international community including NGOs to continue to respond generously
to the consolidated appeal for $225,291,675.  Thus, the CWS shipment helps
20 institutions to bridge the gap during the lean months prior to the next
harvest.  It enables them to provide nutrition to babies and young children.
It continues the up trend of reversing wasting and stunting in North Korea's
future generation."

-end-

Related Story:

April 3, 2003 -- 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

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