The international community should not punish North Korea for
its claimed nuclear test by suspending emergency food aid, a
leading human rights group said Wednesday.
Separately, South Korea has delayed a shipment of emergency aid
to North Korea following the nation's nuclear test, but has not yet
decided to halt all relief deliveries, a government official said
Wednesday. However, private groups went ahead with aid
deliveries.
The world "must distinguish between the government and ordinary
citizens," Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights
Watch, said in a statement from London. "Further restraints on food
aid will only make ordinary people in North Korea suffer more."
Food shortages have beset North Korea since the 1990s following
the collapse of the former Soviet Union, its main aid provider, and
fallout from natural disasters such as floods and outdated farming
methods.
Human Rights Watch also said there are signs the country is
facing another food crisis. North Korea also suffered flooding
after heavy rains in July, causing massive crop damage.
"The North Korea's nuclear weapons program can have devastating
security implications in the region, but suspending food aid could
be lethal for ordinary people in North Korea," Richardson said.
South Korea had planned to send 4,000 tons of cement to North
Korea on Tuesday as part of an emergency aid package it pledged
after North Korea suffered the heavy floods in mid-July.
That aid shipment never departed on Tuesday, a Unification
Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to the media. However, he said there has been
no decision yet on whether to halt all deliveries.
However, South Korea's YMCA said it shipped 2,000 bicycles to
North Korea Wednesday worth US$209,000, the second shipment since
last year. The group plans to ship 6,000 more bikes in the next
three years.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said other civic groups also
sent two ambulances, blankets and construction equipment.
Seoul suspended regular government humanitarian aid in July
after North Korea launched a series of missiles against
international objections. But South Korea agreed to send emergency
aid to cope with the floods.
The disaster is believed to have caused losses of up to 100,000
tons of North Korea's normal annual production of 4 million tons of
food, according to the World Food Program.
The UN food agency said last month that it would run out of food
supplies for North Korea in two months due to a lack of donations
for its operations there.
(China Daily October 12, 2006)
