North Korea suffered massively from recent torrential rains. The events that were scheduled for August 15 (Korean Liberation Day) in Pyongyang, organized privately but still a state function attended by the North's top leaders, were just cancelled. The Arirang Festival, a form of mass games and a source of foreign cash for Pyongyang, was called off, and the gathering of writers from North and South Korea at Mount Geumgang (Kumkang) that was also scheduled for August 15 has been postponed. The concern is that with the North's missile firing and our government's cancellation of rice and fertilizer aid, relations are disintegrating even more. The situation desperately calls for humanitarian aid for North Korea.
The damage from the recent rains is so serious in North Korea that it is enough to be called a national crisis. Reports are that thousands are dead or missing. A million people have been displaced, and tens of thousands of hectares of farmland have been eroded or flooded in the provinces of North Hwanghae (the North's breadbasket), South Pyeongan, Gangwon, and South Hamgyeong. The country was already in dire straights because of its food crisis, and now the situation is only going to get worse. Roads, railways, bridges, dikes, power networks, and public buildings have been destroyed or are otherwise paralyzed. There are even rumors that diseases have started to spread. Naturally, there is a lack of equipment and personnel needed for recovery and a serious shortage in the emergency rations, pharmaceuticals, and other goods that flood victims need right now.
Humanitarian aid is supposed to transcend military, political, and ideological lines; it is help provided in response to humanitarian crises, intended to save lives, reduce suffering, and maintain human dignity. It has to come immediately when there is a crisis. The international aid organization Join Together Society (JTS) Korea is sending emergency relief to the North today, and that fits precisely with the idea of what humanitarian aid is supposed to be all about. The Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, an umbrella group that includes close to 200 social aid groups and political parties, held an emergency meeting yesterday and decided to do what it can to help. Other private groups are getting ready to help as well.
North Korea needs to willingly accept this assistance. It has turned down aid from South Korea's Red Cross organization and the United Nations World Food Program. It should not be this obsessed with keeping up appearances. Humanitarian aid and exchange must continue, aside from the discord over its launching of missiles. The same goes for our own government. North Koreans are suffering and dying, while Seoul hesitates to extend its hand. Humanitarian aid between North and South Korea also needs to promote reconciliation and cooperation, and by doing so, increase a mutual sense of shared identity that advances the goal of reunification. That is why the government actively needs to consider resuming rice and fertilizer aid even beyond what is necessary for flood recovery.
[Editorial] North Korea needs humanitarian aid |
