Has Chia Pet rationed this thing out for food?
Posted on 03/25/2008 2:24:40 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
'Huge Food Shortage In North Korea'
By Sky News
SkyNews - Thursday, March 20 03:18 pmA dire food shortage across North Korea has become so acute it has started to affect the country's elite in the capital, Pyongyang, reports say.
Aid agency Good Friends says food rations for some parts of the city have been cut by up to 60%, while others have seen their supplies cut off completely.
Only citizens who show absolute loyalty to leader Kim Jong Il and his regime are allowed to live in Pyongyang and are considered better off than their fellow countrymen.
But the food situation, which has mostly been felt in rural areas where rations have been suspended since November, has now spread to the city, according to the South Korean aid agency.
"Even ranking officials have run out of their (rationed) food supply, while a ban on (private) trade is strictly maintained," said an unidentified city official quoted by Good Friends.
"It is nothing but a death sentence."
The agency also said farm labourers were staying away from work because they were not getting any food. This was said to be affecting the planting of new crops.
South Korea's Hyundai Economic Research Institute has warned that the rising international cost of grain would impact further on the north's desperate situation.
A famine gripped North Korea during the 1990s, reportedly killing up to two million people. Since then, the country has accepted food aid to feed the population.
But South Korea's new conservative government has signalled it would stop providing unconditional aid to the north.
However, the US government this week sent an humanitarian expert to Seoul to discuss North Korea's food situation.
Last month, the UN's World Food Programme reported that close to a quarter of North Korea's 23 million people are affected by a lack of food.
Ping!
I knew it was coming, just not this soon.
How sad for the innocent people of North Korea !
Why delay the inevitable? Without outside food aid I doubt if Kim Jung Il could last a year. Of course, chaos would probably be the result, as well as mass starvation, but they’re already starving according to the article. China and the ROK would have a mass refugee problem, but they’re both rich nations. The DPRK needs to go, just as East Germany did.
FWIW
With the Expansion of North Korea’s Jangmadang, Possibility of a “Mass Starvation” Reduced
By Kim So Yeul
“The reason for the mass starvation that occurred in late 90s is that North Korea faced natural disasters without expanding the market’s capability to substitute for the broken planned economy capability, and so the damage to North Korean citizens was inevitably large.”
Dong Yong Seung, the Samsung Economic Research Institute’s Economic Security Team Chief, speaking at the 19th Expert Forum sponsored by the Peace Foundation on the 19th, explained that, “The market in North Korea has expanded in the last 10 years. The supply and demand structure of daily necessities, including food items, has been formed.”
Continued Mr. Dong, “Because the market capacity has expanded, the possibility of a mass-scale starvation occurring is no longer high. In actuality, the change in food prices is being monitored at the market.”
He explained, “If South Korea sends food aid to the North, food provision increases, because the intermediary wholesalers will bring out a lot of the food items that have been held. As a result, there is a decline in the food price. In the areas of trade, a similar phenomenon has been taking place. North Korean trade organizations can achieve their quota due to the plan of the authorities.”
Further, he revealed, “Within North Korean factories, there are family enterprises that were allowed, as affiliated laborers, to produce necessities using the by-products of the factory. Therefore, the market-connected family enterprises were recently supporting factories.”
He explained the result: “That’s why these kinds of family enterprises, which manufacture products through purchasing materials from markets and the factory were raising their profits, even when the factory has not been operating due to the paralysis of the capacity of the planned economy.”
Simultaneously, Mr. Dong advised, regarding the North Korean policy of the Lee Myung Bak administration, “There is a need to maintain consistency by reestablishing the basic principles of economic policy towards the North.”
He said, “The reason for pursuing economic cooperation with the North is to promote change in the North and to improve its economic situation through its entry into the international economy. There is a need to reestablish basic principles such as helping to activate the South Korean economy while improving the quality of the North Korean citizens’ lives.”
http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=3423
He put severe restriction on private trade/business activities. He let people fend off for themselves after the massive famine in mid 90's. However, he apparently does not like what he sees. His vaunted state control has been gradually eroding. Now he want to stem the tide even if it leads to creating some civilian starvation victims.
Yep, that’ll teach them.
But I just read the other day NK was looking to strengthen ties with Namibia. Maybe they can help...
More:
24 Mar 2008 press release from ReliefWeb
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/SODA-7D34Y4?OpenDocument
Jefferson Award: ‘Hero’ helps North Koreans find new lives
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/356264_jeffbuck25.html
Grrrr. Let Putin and Hu feed them. They created the mess.
Food shortages, famines, floods, bad harvests...
These have been going on for almost two decades now, with no end in sight.
The humanitarian thing would be to offer fat pensions, immunity from prosecution and luxurious mansions to all the big brass in North Korea if they will just agree to peaceful reunification.
Too bad it will never happen. I don’t see the end in sight any time soon, either.
Has Chia Pet rationed this thing out for food?
The last time they had a shortage like this they went in for Soylent Green in a big way.... The older South Korean people still remember their relatives in the north and will want to help ... I hope they send bullets instead of rice...
If he can’t feed the military, he is all done. Somebody is going to knock him over fairly soon.
Can’t believe some military type doesn’t take control in N.Korea and march out chi pet and his ruthless gang.
You have to know that some of the military have been to the south and seen the differences in conditions.
However, the US government this week sent an humanitarian expert to Seoul to discuss North Korea’s food situation.
lol. Of course.
LLS
Is uranium edible?
But yet we can flip the bill for trips to Africa for Uranium. I bet Chia’s plate is full at every setting also.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.