FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Extortion and starvation
Millions of Koreans may die as the world plays politics
By Hamish MacAulayCaught in the middle of an insane political dance, North Koreans are starving to death. The helpless pawns ina two-way game of extortion, millions of people are sinking into starvation in what is becoming our next human disaster. On one side, the criminally inefficient North Korean government hopes to use its starving people to extort international aid on its own terms. On the other side, South Korea and the United States hope that North Korea's situation will become so desperate that its government will be forced to meet international demands for reform.
While the world is mesmerized by the self-destructive politics of Cambodia, the developments on the Korean peninsula are set to become the international story of the year. It may take the desperation of refugees - driven by hunger to flee to countries that do not want them - to break a political deadlock created by personal and economic self-interest.
In the middle of this tragedy is the North Korean government of Kim Jong II, the undisputed leader in the crowded race to be the world's most intransigent and self-serving government. Economically viable at one time, support from Russia and China allowed North Korea to pursue self-aggrandizing policies such as its infamous nuclear program while neglecting the basic necessity of growing food. With the "end" of the Cold War, Russia and China decided that they needed the money more than they needed North Korea. Since then, the country has gone on a slow, insidious decline that has now reached a dangerous threshold.
International aid agencies readily admit that giving North Korea food to distribute to its people will simply put most of the food in the hands of bureaucrats and the military. Unfortunately, the government will not let the food be distributed any other way, and the US and other countries refuse to play along with the irritating North Korean leaders' game of extortion. Instead, requests for money from the aid agencies go unanswered as the world tries to force concessions out of North Korea.
On the other side of the demilitarized zone, the South Korean government is concerned about the potential for refugees, but continues to hold its official position in support of reunification with the North as soon as possible.
Economic conditions, however, are causing the South's leaders to rethink this position. As reported in The European, the collapse of the Hanbo steel company, the exposure of its chaotic banking system and huge drops in corporate profits has left South Koreans struggling to maintain their economic miracle and increasingly disinterested in the plight of North Korea. The South, although willing to help where it can, will wait for North Koreans to solve their own problems. According to the Far Eastern Economic Review, the South Korean government expects the North to go through decades of transition from communism to military dictatorship and finally democracy before unification can happen.
The situation leaves only two questions. How many North Koreans will have to starve to death during the transition? And, will the inevitable refugees be able to change the situation and bring international attention and help to the latest victims of human folly as the world puts political goals ahead of human lives?
SIDEBAR
As of June, a $95 million aid request for North Korea by the UN's World Food Program - one fifth of what experts believe is required - was only one third fulfilled.
Experts estimate economic integration of the peninsula could cost $1.8 trillion, three times what Germany spent on its reunification.
South Korea's annual GNP is $500 million.
Source: Gemini News Service
Back To Main Contents
Back To This Issue Table of Contents