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UN sanctions on North Korea won’t affect aid: WFP
BEIJING - The United Nations food agency said on Monday it was relieved that the UN sanctions on North Korea will have little impact on humanitarian aid but warned that the crisis there is still “precarious.”
So the sanctions mean nothing, but we knew that.
“The sanction doesn’t affect humanitarian food aid per se... from that perspective we’re extremely happy,” said World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Michael Huggins, who has just visited North Korea. “The reason we’re happy is because the situation in North Korea is so precarious and food security remains elusive for many millions of people,” he told AFP.

But even though the sanctions have no immediate impact on international food aid, Huggins said millions are still going hungry due to the UN agency’s lack of funding and South Korea’s scaling back of food aid after the North’s declared missile test.

Last month, the World Food Programme said it had received so far just eight percent of the 102 million dollars it needs to provide 150,000 tonnes of food over the next two years. “We need to feed 1.9 million people and we’re only feeding about a million,” Huggins said.

Huggins said 37 percent of children under six are chronically malnourished in the reclusive communist state and one-third of North Korean women are anaemic and malnourished.
And 99% are oppressed and broken.

Posted by: Steve White 2006-10-17
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=168874