[Interview] Former WHO Pyongyang project manager “North Koreans are people just like us”

Posted on : 2016-10-29 11:24 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Nagi Shafik says sanctions generally don’t work, and disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable
Nagi Shafik
Nagi Shafik

Nagi Shafik, former project manager for the World Health Organization’s Pyongyang office, arrived early in the morning on Oct. 27 to hold down the fort at Busan’s Nurimaru APEC House, site of the Busan-Hankyoreh International Symposium. For eight years, Shafik was involved in humanitarian aid activities in the North Korean capital. He met with the Hankyoreh ahead of a debate that afternoon, where he was set to speak in the second session on “the UN’s role toward change in North Korea.”

Shafik gave a somewhat surprising answer when asked when he had worked in Pyongyang.

“I actually stayed there for just over 40 days, from late May to early July,” he said. While he is currently retired, he stayed in Pyongyang earlier this year at the WHO’s request, working with North Korean government officials to help with formulating a five-year plan for public health policy and development of vaccines for women and children.

Shafik offered a vivid account of the changes he had recently witnessed in the North.

“The first change you notice is how many lights there are at night,” he said. While living in Pyongyang in the past, he had only seen electric lights in residential areas for foreigners, he explained.

“There are more taxis now, and everyone carries mobile phones. I was also shocked that everyone was using credit cards, although they were domestic North Korean cards,” he said.

Shafik also described marked changes in the behavior of younger people, noting that the young children who seven or eight years earlier had been fearful of foreigners were now actively approaching him to offer greetings.

“Even without pressure for change from outside, North Korea is changing,” he said. “The whole thing about them not knowing about the outside world is ancient history. They know exactly how the outside world operates.”

Shafik’s first visit to Pyongyang came in late 2001 when he was working on behalf of UNICEF. He was preparing to leave after finishing his duties assisting children when he happened to receive the WHO offer to serve as its new project manager. Subsequently involved in a major project providing US$13 million a year in support for the health of children and pregnant women, he left the Pyongyang office in 2009 when aid was delayed for political reasons.

Shafik, who first become involved in humanitarian support in his younger days through his affiliation with Doctors without Borders, said the international community’s sanctions on North Korea were not only ineffective but merely served to trigger an outcry from the North.

“Speaking from my experience, sanctions are generally unsuccessful, and when they do succeed they only affect the poor and vulnerable,” he said.

Shafik also recalled that the biggest change after sanctions kicked in had been a marked drop in support, and that the South Korean government had been the biggest player for international organizations offering humanitarian aid to the North.

“The media and politicians in the US and South Korea are attacking North Korea politically,” he said. “I’d like the world to know that they are people like us, people who enjoy time with their families, people who eat and play and sing and laugh.”

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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

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