wfn.org | North Korea Famine Relief

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (238
notes).

Note 237 by UMNS on July 23, 1997 at 16:34 Eastern (2737 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Bloom                           425(10-21-71B){237}
         New York (212) 870-3803                     July 23, 1997

UMCOR relief shipment
bound for North Korea

     NEW YORK (UMNS) -- Two containers with 1,362 relief boxes for
North Korean families suffering the effects of famine were shipped
July 22 by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). 
     The containers were shipped from the UMCOR Depot in Baldwin,
La. Each box contains enough food -- rice, powdered milk, canned
meat, shortening, chocolate bars -- to feed a family of five for a
week. A small rake and trowel and comb and brush set also is
included.
     Another shipment of boxes should leave the depot for North
Korea in August, according to Wendy Whiteside, UMCOR's executive
secretary for program management.
     She said an ecumenical-based shipment of boxes is expected to
leave Missouri in September and that the West Virginia Annual
(regional) Conference may have a shipment ready by September or
early October.
     UMCOR is continuing to urge United Methodists to contribute
to its box campaign or make financial donations for bulk rice
shipments and other types of relief supplies to UMCOR Advance No.
226435-0. "We have a goal of 100,000 boxes," Whiteside said.
     According to the World Food Programme of the United Nations,
a million tons of grain is needed to meet basic food needs in
North Korea until the next harvest.
     The organization issued an appeal July 9 for an additional
$45.7 million to allow it to double food rations for the 2.6
million children under the age of six in North Korea. On July 15,
its officials announced that nearly 75 percent of that goal had
been made.
     Other food shipments have come through Action by Churches
Together (ACT), a broad ecumenical coalition whose membership
includes UMCOR and Church World Service, the relief agency of the
National Council of Churches. ACT representative Erich Weingartner
is now in North Korea working with the World Food Programme to
monitor donations from nongovernmental organizations.
     James Laney, a United Methodist and former U.S. ambassador to
South Korea, and retired U.S. Senator Sam Nunn met with North
Korea officials July 21 and South Korea officials July 22 to help
prepare for negotiations between the two countries next month in
New York. Emergency food aid was among the topics discussed.
     For more information on donations or how to prepare a relief
box, call (800) 814-8765. For instructions in Korean call (800)
636-0905.
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