UN's World Food Program to Stop Food Delivery to North Korea
Less than three months ago Time Magazine reported that the North Korean government had tightened up its borders so the hungry could not as easily enter China, increased rationing, and urged more people to buy rice on the "open," market, an option the poorest citizens could not afford.
Now the UN has agreed to stop food shipments in January at the request of the North Korean government. For the past ten years the UN's World Food Program has fed about 6.5 million people per year. ( The population is roughly 22 million.)
North Korea claims it has adequate food delivery from other sources, including China, and that its harvest will be plentiful. But the UN will not be allowed to monitor that harvest and manyWestern experts fear another famine will hit the country.
According to an AP article ( Sept 18, 2005) by Burt Herman, Richard Ragan, head of the WFP effort in North Korea, said recently that North Korean government officials told him "they didn't want to create a culture of dependency."
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