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Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul meets with David Beasley

In recent days, the South Korean government has been soliciting the opinions of various groups in society, including NGOs and religious organizations, with the hope of moving forward with humanitarian food aid for North Korea. The government will reportedly make its decision about its plan of action after spending the next few weeks listening to a wide range of opinions from civic society about the need for humanitarian aid to North Korea, as well as the timing, method, categories, and amount of that aid.

“The World Food Programme report stated that the period when aid is needed is from May to September. But given the need for a public consensus and support, we will continue to canvass public opinion,” an official from the Unification Ministry said on May 15.

After meeting with representatives from NGOs and religious groups on May 14, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul held another meeting on Wednesday morning with policy advisors on the Unification Ministry’s humanitarian cooperation subcommittee. By next week, he plans to meet with ministers from several large churches to hear their opinions about food aid to the North. The NGOs and religious groups represented in the meeting have considerable experience with providing humanitarian aid to the North.

The reason that the government has lengthened the opinion-canvassing period – originally scheduled to last one week – for a week or two more is reportedly because of the “unexpected variable” of North Korea’s test launch of a short-range missile on May 9. Amid increasing negative public opinion about humanitarian aid, the government concluded that additional opinion canvassing would be necessary.

This has also aggravated the government’s dilemma about the method of providing humanitarian aid to North Korea. Generally speaking, three methods are available: the government can provide aid directly to the North, it can provide aid through international bodies, or it can fund NGOs. The government could use all three methods at the same time, or it could shift its focus from direct aid to aid via international organizations according to shifting trends in public opinion.

The method of direct aid by the government has the advantage of being faster and simpler. According to South Korean government officials, it typically takes a month or two for food aid to actually reach its targets after the South Korean authorities deliver it to the North. In this process, the Unification Ministry would lead deliberations with other relevant ministries, solicit public opinion, explain the plan to the National Assembly, and secure the approval of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council. Once the methods of acquiring and transporting the food were determined, the supplies could be delivered by land or by sea.

executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme

While working through international organizations or NGOs tends to take longer than direct aid by the government, that method is more likely to be acceptable to North Korea and would also spare the government the potential controversy about the transparency of the distribution process. According to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), it usually takes around six months after the South Korean government sends funds to international organizations for the actual recipients to receive the food.

One method used when working with domestic NGO is “matching funds,” in which the NGOs and government invest funds together. In this method, the government agrees to match the funds raised by the NGO. This method was used when there was a major flood in North Korea not long after the South Korean government announced it would suspend discussions of providing rice and fertilizer following North Korea’s test launch of a missile in July 2006. While North Korea seemed reluctant to receive foreign aid, it did contact South Korean NGOs to ask for help. The government decided to provide emergency aid for humanitarian reasons, separate from the missile issue, and matching funds enabled NGOs to provide the North with 10 billion won (US$8.41 million) worth of emergency relief supplies.

A report released on May 3 by the WFP and the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) that assessed North Korea’s food security raised concerns that the food crisis would get even worse from July to September, when less food is distributed than in other seasons. Considering that there are less than two months left until July, the direct aid method could be seen as more effective.

In terms of the categories of direct aid, corn is a likely option, and rice could be considered as well. Past administrations have directly provided North Korea with rice and corn that have been grown both at home and abroad. Considering that the WFP and FAO’s report pointed out that one of the causes of North Korea’s inadequate food supply is its lack of fertilizer, fertilizer and the wheat that NGOs have long provided the North could also be included in the list of aid goods.

The Unification Ministry’s 2019 operational plan for the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund allocates 81.54 billion won (US$68.59 million) in relief aid to North Korea this year, including 100,000 tons of rice and 80,000 emergency aid kits. The government sets aside funding every year for rice and fertilizer to give the North in relief aid. This is supposed to be used for repairs and disease prevention in the event of a humanitarian crisis in the North, such as a food crisis, a flood, or some other natural disaster. Though the exact amount can’t be predicted, previous examples show that rice given to the North with no strings attached has ranged from 5,000 tons (2010) to 150,000 tons (1995). The greatest amount of aid given in the form of a loan was 400,000 tons of locally grown rice and 100,000 tons of foreign-grown rice in 2005.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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