North Korea Pleads for Food Aid as Trump Sanctions Noose Tightens
As much as Trump likes to rail against the failed policies of his predecessor, he seems to be mimicking them, using North Korea’s food shortages as leverage to force the country to denuclearize, a move that DPRK believes would bring about only a swifter death.
'PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA — A leaked diplomatic memo reveals that the North Korean government is lobbying its allies for assistance in dealing with an “urgent” food shortage crisis needed to stave off hunger this month. But with U.S. and international sanctions in play, delivery of humanitarian aid is risky business.
A diplomatic memo obtained by NK News appears to be an instruction from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Ministry of Foreign Affairs to An Kwang II, DPRK’s ambassador to Indonesia, as well as to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to make appeals to allies for food assistance.
The document says the DPRK would, without international assistance, face an “absolute shortage,” despite the country’s having imported 200,000 tons of food and produced “400,000 tons of early-ripening crops.”
According to NK News, the memo appears to be a follow-up to another memo, obtained by NBC News in February, from DPRK Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song, which served as a plea for aid from international organizations.
Both memos reportedly cite findings from a study conducted jointly in late 2018 to early 2019 by the UN World Food Program (WFP) and the DPRK.
Earlier this month, The Guardian reported:
Due to flooding and a heatwave last year, North Korea is facing a shortfall of 1.4m tonnes in food production this year, including wheat, rice, potatoes and soybeans.”
David Beasley, a former Republican governor of South Carolina and supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, is the director of the WFP. He told The Guardian:
This is a serious issue and children are going to be severely impacted if we do not do something by the time the lean season truly kicks in by June.
Russia has responded and is sending in 50,000 metric tonnes [of wheat], China is doing something too. Western donors are still hoping that the [breaking] of the impasse will take place so that everyone can come in together.
The concerns have been about not helping the regime. We make the case: don’t let innocent children suffer because of politics.”
Beasley has warned that children will be severely impacted if more aid isn’t delivered by June.'
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