Interaction Member Activity Report North Korea a Guide to Humanitarian and Development Efforts of Interaction Member Agencies in North Korea
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InterAction Member Activity Report North Korea A Guide to Humanitarian and Development Efforts of InterAction Member Agencies in North Korea September 2005 Photo by Reuters/Ho Produced by Josh Kearns With the Humanitarian Policy and Practice Unit of 1717 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 701, Washington DC 20036 Phone (202) 667-8227 Fax (202) 667-8236 Website: http://www.interaction.org Table of Contents Map of North Korea 2 Background Summary 3 Report Summary 5 Organizations by Sector Activity 6 Glossary of Acronyms 7 InterAction Member Activity Report Adventist Development and Relief Agency 8 American Friends Service Committee 10 Americares 12 Baptist World Aid 13 Catholic Relief Services 14 Holt International Children’s Services 16 Korean American Sharing Movement 17 Mercy Corps 18 Refugees International 20 US Fund for UNICEF 21 World Vision 24 InterAction Member Activity Report for North Korea 1 September 2005 Map of North Korea Map courtesy of Central Intelligence Agency / World Fact Book InterAction Member Activity Report for North Korea 2 September 2005 Background Summary Since the mid-1990’s, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has experienced a severe food shortfall. Exacerbated by a series of droughts and floods, the DPRK is further plagued by unsafe drinking water supplies, declining public health services, and an energy crisis. Economic mismanagement and a loss of support from North Korea’s traditional communist allies after the end of the Cold War have led to continuing economic decline over the last decade. Food rations under the government’s Public Distribution System (PDS), upon which many North Koreans depend for survival, went into serious decline beginning in 1994. Despite recent improvements, rations fall significantly short of daily caloric requirements. Food aid is desperately needed. The regime’s policy of self-reliance (Juche) and its confrontational posture towards outsiders have complicated efforts to aid the North Korean people. Following the ouster of the Japanese occupier at the end of World War II, the victorious powers were unable to agree upon a suitable way to administer the newly independent Korean nation. The result was a division into North and South along the 38th parallel—the North allied with the Soviet Union and the South with the US and its allies. In June 1950, war erupted between the fledgling Korean nations when the North launched an attack on its southern neighbor. After three years of fighting, which included intervention from a UN peacekeeping force on behalf of the South and Chinese and Soviet assistance for the North, the peninsula remained divided. North Korea’s economy and infrastructure were devastated, and the messy outcome of the war led Kim Il-Sung, North Korea’s “Great Leader,” to distance himself from his communist allies. Because of Kim Il-Sung’s desire to stave off Soviet and Chinese influence, North Korea’s development policy during the Cold War was characterized by a program of self-reliance and a strict, centrally planned economy. This strategy, which consisted mainly of extracting North Korea’s mineral wealth for industrial growth and expanding its agricultural production, resulted in some initial success. However, in the 1970’s, negative economic growth caused by the oil crisis and other factors marked the beginning of a steady downward slide for North Korea. After the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989 the North found itself without its most important trading partner. As a result, during the 1990’s, the DPRK was left to provide food and services to its people without the benefit of significant outside assistance. What little arable land the country had was left vulnerable to flood due to the deforestation that accompanied North Korea’s breakneck agricultural expansion programs. This precarious situation came to a head in the mid-1990s, when a series of floods destroyed much of the DPRK’s food stocks. At the same time, the production of fertilizer, upon which the DPRK relied heavily for agricultural production, declined rapidly due to a loss of inputs from the former communist states. Currently, fertilizer production is at less than 12% of pre-1990s levels. In 2002, in an effort to ameliorate the food crisis, the North Korean government implemented economic reforms including price and wage increases and market liberalization at the lowest levels. These policies appear to have backfired, leaving many unable to afford basic commodities. Prior to the famine, the government’s PDS supplied over 700 grams of food rations per day to over 60% of the population. The most recent reports state that the system is providing about half of that. InterAction Member Activity Report for North Korea 3 September 2005 Though the worst of the food crisis appears to be over, North Korea is a long way from being able to feed its population. The World Food Program predicts that its programs will need to help feed over 6.5 million people this year, with women and children receiving priority based upon need. As of May 2005, a food shortfall of over 300,000 MT exists. Though the DPRK has shown an increased willingness to accept foreign food aid since 1995, agencies and organizations have encountered difficulty monitoring and evaluating its impact, as well as assessing further needs. The government’s recent decision to restart its nuclear weapons program has strained its relations with the US, Japan, and South Korea, who together with China are the largest donors to North Korea. In 1995 the North Korean government asked InterAction to facilitate humanitarian assistance from its members. Several dozen American and European NGOs organized relief and recovery programs. However, the number of these NGOs working has shrunk over the past decade, as dissatisfaction with constraints placed on their freedom to conduct needs assessments and to monitor delivery of relief led many to end their programs. In mid September 2005 the DPRK government informed the UN and NGOs that it no longer would accept their humanitarian assistance. InterAction Member Activity Report for North Korea 4 September 2005 Report Summary This report offers international agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the media and the public an overview of the humanitarian assistance being provided to the people of North Korea by InterAction member agencies. Eleven member organizations reported their current or planned relief and development operations in North Korea. The programs address a broad range of sectors including: agriculture and food security; disaster and emergency relief; education and training; environmental protection; health care; human rights, peace and conflict resolution; organizational capacity building; rural development and water and sanitation. These activities take place in a number of locations including in and around Pyongyang, South Pyongan Province, North Hwanghe, Kangwon Province, Sepo County, Pukchang county and Rajin-Sonbong district. The agencies in this report have presented various objectives for their programs in North Korea. Many deal with increased food production as well as the provisions of medical supplies. Some agencies focus on particularly vulnerable populations, such as children and pregnant and nursing women. Other common themes among program objectives include agricultural assistance and emergency relief. Many of the agencies in this report work with the support of, or in coordination with local and international partners. Some of the organizations mentioned are: the European Union (EU), the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee (FDRC), Caritas Internationalis/Hong Kong and various UN agencies. InterAction Member Activity Report for North Korea 5 September 2005 Organizations by Sector Activity Agriculture and Food Security Human Rights, Peace and Adventist Development and Relief Agency Conflict Resolution American Friends Service Committee Refugees International Catholic Relief Services Mercy Corps Nutrition/Food and Water US Fund for UNICEF Distribution World Vision Adventist Development and Relief Agency Americares Disaster and Emergency Relief Baptist World Aid Adventist Development and Relief Agency Catholic Relief Services American Friends Service Committee Holt International Children’s Service AmeriCares Mercy Corps Baptist World Aid US Fund for UNICEF Catholic Relief Services Holt International Children’s Services Organizational Capacity Building Korean American Sharing Movement Adventist Development and Relief Agency Mercy Corps US Fund for UNICEF World Vision Rural Development Adventist Development and Relief Agency Education and Training American Friends Service Committee World Vision American Friends Service Committee US Fund for UNICEF Water and Sanitation Environmental Protection Adventist Development and Relief Agency Baptist World Aid US Fund for UNICEF US Fund for UNICEF Health Care Adventist Development and Relief Agency AmeriCares Baptist World Aid Catholic Relief Services Holt International Children’s Service Mercy Corps US Fund for UNICEF World Vision InterAction Member Activity Report for North Korea 6 September 2005 Glossary of Acronyms Acronyms InterAction Member ADRA Adventist Development and Relief Agency AFSC American Friends Service Committee BWAid Baptist World Aid CRS Catholic Relief Services KASM Korean American Sharing Movement Other Acronyms AAS Academy of Agricultural Services ACT Action by Churches Together CMW Central Medical Warehouse CFGB Canadian Food Grains Bank DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea EBF Eugene Bell Foudation