Congressman Hall Nov. 29 Remarks on Famine in North Korea

Congressman Tony P. Hall
U.S. House of Representatives
1432 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Hall Describes 'Forgotten Famine'
in the Bitterly Cold Outposts of North Korea

Re-think 'Band-Aid' approach to crisis, he urges

November 29, 2000

SEOUL - Rep. Tony P. Hall, D-Ohio, today called for countries
concerned about North Korea's 21 million people to renew international
efforts to fight a famine that has worsened in the past year. Hall
reported on his November 25-28 visit to hospitals, orphanages and
other sites in Chongjin and other cities outside Pyongyang. The visit
was Hall's sixth to North Korea since 1996. His remarks follow:

"With all of the news about North Korea's diplomatic initiatives, it
is easy to forget that people there are still struggling to survive a
famine that has not ended.

"Sitting in a warm room, it's hard to imagine how bitterly cold it
gets in places which go unheated 90 percent of the time. Driving along
familiar streets, it seems strange to think of North Korean roads that
pass homes shrouded in complete darkness except for the occasional
candle. And being no more than a few hours away from our last meal or
our next one, it is impossible to comprehend the hunger that comes
from day after day after day of getting no more than a few hundred
calories of food, or none at all.

"The glimpses some recent visitors have gotten of Pyongyang need to be
reconciled with the reality in the rest of the country. Visitors to
the National Mall in Washington, D.C., would be wrong to imagine all
American cities look like that. Likewise, visitors to North Korea's
capital need to remember that people who live in Pyongyang are even
less representative of those in outlying communities.

"No matter what political changes come in the weeks and months ahead,
the grim situation most people in North Korea face every day ought to
be uppermost in our minds. People can't live like this for long, and
their basic human needs for food and warmth cannot wait for political
solutions to decades-old issues.

"When I visited Hye San and Sariwon last August, I saw signs that the
situation was improving. In Chongjin two winters ago, people seemed
miserable but not without hope. I expected things to be better this
year, but they are not. They're worse.

"This sharp turn downward was most obvious in North Hamgyong Province,
which has suffered typhoons and flooding that would have devastated
any country in the world. But North Koreans are paying a far higher
price than other people would, because their country's troubles have
outrun its ability to weather any storm.

"And the misery is hardly limited to people living where natural
disasters struck. Hospitals I visited in Onchon and Pakchon Counties,
less than 100 miles from Pyongyang, as well as in Chongjin, were cold,
barren, dirty places filled with the stench of sickness. Doctors
seemed diligent and concerned, but they have little relief to offer
their patients. Electricity ran for no more than two hours a day;
patients were fed less than half the food a human being needs to
survive; and medicines - from antibiotics, to anesthetics, to
painkillers, to aspirin - were nowhere to be found. Most diseases that
send people to the hospital were caused by eating so-called
'alternative food': a little grain mixed with ground leaves, bark and
other inedible vegetation that fills the stomach - but then tears it
apart.

"The continuing crisis is most telling in the lives of Korean
children. On paper, they are the best off because they get full
rations from the United Nations' World Food Programme. But in reality,
nurseries are overflowing with orphans. In one 'baby home' I visited
near Chongjin, two of five children have lost both parents; the rest
have been left in the home's care by families that can no longer look
after them. Everywhere I saw them, children seemed well cared for, but
-- without soap, hot water, heat or medicine - most were dirty,
coughing and sniffling. At lunch, they gulped their milk without
taking a breath and came back hungrily for seconds.

"We are entering the sixth year of helping feed North Korea's people,
and most who get aid are children under age eight. I am proud that my
own country has been steadfast in its commitment to help and has been
the biggest contributor to famine-relief efforts. I am very glad that
South Korea and Japan recently have donated generously to the United
Nations' efforts; President Kim and Prime Minister Mori deserve praise
for their leadership and their determination to withstand misguided
criticism of their generosity.

"I am convinced that North Korea's citizens will remember who helped
them in this time of need, and that history will be a harsh judge of
those who ignored one of the greatest famines of our time.

"While I hope international food aid will continue, though, it is time
for the international community to rethink its 'Band-Aid' approach to
this crisis. As an aid worker told me, food aid alone is 'like
applying a bandage over a gaping wound.'

"As any parent knows, mere food cannot ensure the survival of even one
of the seven million children the WFP feeds each year. They all need
heated homes, vaccinations against disease, medicines, and a future
beyond the orphanage. They need much more, of course - but these most
basic humanitarian needs are ones that, I believe, the United States
and other countries can help meet.

"The idea of providing fuel to a country whose military remains a
threat is a controversial one, and I am not proposing the wholesale
delivery of oil and gas to Pyongyang. But it is past time to seriously
consider projects like one I saw in Unhari Village, where the
U.S.-based Nautilus Institute is working with North Korean scientists
to harness wind power. U.S.-designed wind turbines are now heating and
lighting homes, purifying drinking water, and irrigating fields, and
their success could be replicated in other communities. The added
advantage of projects like this is that they offer a way for
foreigners to work together with local people and to extend the ties
that are now being built among engaged countries' diplomats.

"Other superb initiatives have been proposed, and agreed to by North
Korea; most have foundered for lack of support. The United Nations
Development Programme has a broad array of agriculture reform
projects; the International Fund for Agriculture Development is
already working with individual micro-entrepreneurs in North Korea;
and UNICEF has proven ways of helping the very young children who are
every country's best hope for a peaceful and prosperous future. I hope
my country and others will take another look at these and other
projects and support them. I plan to sit down with the next U.S.
administration as soon as possible to discuss resuming our aid to
UNICEF's health and clean water projects, which was started in 1998
but stopped for no good reason.

"Obviously, North Korea's leaders also need to change their priorities
and do much more to improve their people's situation. I urged
officials there to cooperate more readily with aid workers and
discussed with Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan some of the United
States' security concerns. Based on what he said, and on my private
discussion with President Clinton before I left, I am hopeful that we
may still see a diplomatic breakthrough in the coming weeks.

"But there is a real danger in focusing too narrowly. In the past four
years, I have seen the tremendous change humanitarian aid has
triggered - both in the millions of lives it has saved, and in
government attitudes transformed by the international response to this
crisis.

"The innocent people of North Korea are the reason why our countries
are trying to improve our relationships with North Korea. They, and
not their government, give purpose to our diplomatic initiatives and
their needs should be put first. Too often, the long-term benefits
that diplomatic progress promise have overshadowed Koreans' immediate
needs. Every missed meal, every missed vaccine, every frigid night
spent battling the freezing weather brings them another step closer to
a diminished life, or to death.

"The innocent people I have seen during my visits cannot wait for
diplomatic home runs; what they need most are the solid base hits that
mark steady progress. I hope this human reality doesn't get lost in
the diplomatic hubbub of summits and politics."

Hall will discuss his findings with President Kim Dae Jung on November
30 and with President Bill Clinton upon his return to the United
States.