DATE=11/29/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PERRY - NORKOR FOOD  (L-O)
NUMBER=2-256625
BYLINE=STEPHANIE MANN
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  President Clinton's special advisor for U-S 
policy toward North Korea has dismissed congressional 
criticism of American food aid to that country.  
Correspondent Stephanie Mann reports former Defense 
Secretary William Perry told a Washington gathering 
(Monday) those food shipments should continue. 

TEXT:  William Perry says international relief workers 
in North Korea have assured him that shipments of food 
are reaching their intended destinations.  He 
disagrees with some members of the Congress who say 
food shipments are not adequately monitored and should 
be discontinued.

In a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Mr. Perry 
said U-S food aid is sent through the U-N World Food 
Program.  He adds that relief workers say they monitor 
food distribution to the county level.

            // PERRY ACT // 

      The best indication that I have that the food 
      gets to the people for whom it is intended is 
      the relief agencies report to me that they see a 
      dramatic decrease in the starving and the 
      deprivation, and the stunting of the children 
      for whom this food is intended during the last 
      few years. 

            // END ACT // 

Mr. Perry says relief agencies estimate North Korea 
needs about five-million-tons of grain a year to keep 
its people at a subsistence level.  Starvation can be 
expected if the grain level dips below four-million-
tons a year.

He says North Korea has recently been producing three 
to three-and-one-half-million-tons of grain each year.  
The difference has been made up by shipments from the 
United States and China -- totaling about one-half-
million-tons annually.  Mr. Perry says that has helped 
ease the level of starvation in North Korea in the 
past two-years. 

Mr. Perry says North Korea probably ensures that much 
of the three-million tons it produces goes to feed the 
elite in Pyongyang and the military.  Whether or not 
the United States sends food aid, Mr. Perry says the 
elite and the soldiers will be fed.  Therefore, he 
says the United States should continue its food aid on 
humanitarian grounds so people in the countryside get 
help.  

            // REST OPT //

William Perry says North Korea's severe food shortage 
is not just the result of seasonal flooding and 
drought, but is caused by ineffective agricultural and 
distribution systems.   (SIGNED)

NEB/SMN/RAE



29-Nov-1999 13:39 PM EDT (29-Nov-1999 1839 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.