hankyoreh

the president of the Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea (KNCCK)

“Some 180 million Won’s worth of goods ready to send to Pyongyang, Kaesong and the Hoeryong district, including seedling maintenance facilities, manufacturing equipment, and apple orchard props, have been tied up in Incheon harbor since April. With the installation of props for the 10,000 or so apple trees we planted in April and irrigation materials growing delayed, we worry the apple trees may die.” (Green One Korea)

“The cement that has been left in a container in Incheon harbor is hardening and some of the equipment is rusting in storage. We have suspended construction of a hospital we were doing basic construction on when material delivery was cut. Since we cannot bring drainpipes, if the site fills with water, it will be difficult to even preserve the construction site.” (Sharing International)

The Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea (KNCCK), a gathering of groups engaged in humanitarian aid to North Korea led by President Chung Jung-sup, held an emergency press conference at Seoul’s Sejong Center on Thursday. The heads of the 56 groups under the KNCCK urged that the ban on visits or the sending of goods to North Korea that has been in place for the last three months since North Korea’s long-range rocket launch in early April be repealed before their humanitarian projects in North Korea that have been placed in a grave situation die.

In a progress report, Sharing International President Lee Yun-sang said some 200 million Won worth of medical equipment and construction materials to be sent North Korea as aid for building hospitals, farms, soy milk factories and nurseries are tied up in Incheon harbor because they are not allowed to be delivered. Park Chang-bin, a representative of Word Vision, said seven containers of farm material have been left by the pier in Incheon harbor since April 20. He said he was participating in this press conference in order to ask whether South Korea should be engaging in humanitarian projects, and if this is the country it should be.

There was also much criticism about the tenor of the administration’s North Korea policy, which has linked humanitarian aid from private groups with the nuclear issue and inter-Korean relations, for driving the situation to where it currently is. Choi Byung-mo, the director general of KRHANA, said Unification Ministry officials have no clue about the intrinsic nature of inter-Korean relations. He said to sever existing North Korea policy completely each time an incident takes place was really foolish. Im Jong-cheol, the director-general of the headquarters for Childhood Medical Supplies, said no matter how entangled inter-Korean relations get, one must keep the path open for humanitarian aid.

Chung said it seems that nowadays within South Korea’s civil society, the claim that suspending humanitarian aid to North Korea is used as a means of taming North Korea as it gains strength. He said countless people have doubts about the legitimacy of the administration’s North Korea policy, which is forcing policies that the KNCCK cannot assent. Chung called on North Korean and South Korean authorities to engage in immediate talks and to take substantive measures. He demanded the government immediately approve delivery of humanitarian support material to North Korea and remove the ban on visits to North Korea in order to monitor the aid.

It appears, however, as if the administration will continue with the ban. A Unification Ministry official said they were considering what to do about the difficult situation facing the NGOs, but as of yet, they have not found an opportunity to lift the travel ban. After North Korea’s long-range rocket launch on April 5, the Unification Ministry permitted visits to Pyongyang and regions other than the Kaesong Industrial Complex on a case-by-case basis, but after North Korea’s second nuclear test on May 25, it banned all visits to regions other than Kaesong.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]