Open Sources: Lugar Sounds Cautious Note on Food Aid
“Any resumption of U.S. food aid to North Korea should be contingent on North Korea allowing access and accountability by monitors in accordance with international standards,” Sen. Richard Lugar (R-In) said in a statement. “It is essential to ensure that the U.S. assistance is actually received by hungry North Korean children and their families rather than reinforcing the North Korean military whose care is already a priority over the rest of the population.”
More here. I like Dick Lugar as a person, but he sometimes acts like the Junior Senator from the State Department. I wonder if the rising threat of a primary challenge from the right is causing him to take more strident positions. I can’t imagine that the people of Indiana would think highly of the idea of feeding the North Korean army this year. In the past, of course, we’ve extracted some modest concessions from the North Koreans on monitoring, only to see North Korea renege on those concessions within a few months and refuse further aid. North Korea’s obstructionism of foreign food aid has been so determined that I’ve long inclined to the view that North Korea wants to keep certain political classes of its population on the verge of starvation (or worse) as a tool of political control.
We’ll know that the regime is serious about transparency when it allows aid workers to distribute and monitor aid distribution, and — key point — to stay long enough to conduct long-term nutritional surveys. Until then, we’d be better off organizing and assisting money smugglers who can harness the power of the market to draw food toward those North Koreans who need it most.
Here’s another story on the contracting city limits of Pyongyang, which offers varying explanations about why North Korea is doing this.
Over to you, Kushibo: “Meng Jianzhu, China’s public security minister, congratulated Kim’s youngest son Jong-un on his appointment as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission last year, “hailing the successful solution of the issue of succession to the Korean revolution,” KCNA news agency reported.” This is followed by some “expert” interpretations of what “succession” means in this context, but I don’t find those interpretations very persuasive.
Wow. That’s a lot of snow.
Have a look at the leaflets that are presently falling on North Korea.
Veterans remember Chipyeong-ni: “In the aftermath of Chipyong-ni, the (Chinese) Army limped north,” he said. “It was the last Chinese offensive of the Korean War, and within four months the Chinese high command requested truce talks. The next time an American president goes to Beijing, we should ask Yo Yo Ma to play a sonata in remembrance of their bravery.