North Korea says it is running out of food
7.21 p.m. ET (022 GMT) March 2, 1998
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea is still running out of food
despite dramatically reducing grain rations to its people, the
country's official media reported Monday.
The government cut the daily ration per person from 10.5 ounces a
day to 7 ounces a day in February. Even if the ration is cut again to
3.5 ounces, "the stock will run out in mid-March,'' said the North's
state-run Korean Central News Agency, quoting an unidentified
government official.
International experts say a daily minimum of 1 pound of food is
needed to keep an adult relatively healthy.
North Korea has suffered through three years of disastrous weather
that aggravated problems caused by inefficient cooperative farming
techniques.
The official said the communist nation's domestic grain stock stood
at 167,000 tons as of Jan. 1.
The U.N. World Food Program issued a new appeal in January for
650,000 tons of food for North Korea this year.
On Monday, the food program said that the North Korean warning
confirms earlier assessments that international assistance is urgently
needed.
The WFP added that it is currently supplying 98,000 tons of grain
to 4.7 million of the neediest North Koreans, mainly children, and
that the food aid should last the recipients through this month.
The United States has committed 200,000 tons, worth $75 million,
to the latest U.N. appeal. There have been no reports of major
donations from other countries.
In Washington, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said
Monday that the United States plans no assistance beyond its
pledge. He said the first shipment under that pledge - 22,000 tons
- is scheduled to arrive in North Korea at the begining of April.
In the news agency report, North Korea said it needs about 7.84
million tons of grain a year, of which 4.82 million are needed for
food and the remainder for animal feed and other use.
But the North's grain output decreased drastically last year because
of a prolonged drought, reducing the crop to 4.83 million tons, the
news agency said.
The country expressed gratitude for outside food aid and said it was
mobilizing "all the people and servicemen'' to increase grain
production this year. Who cares? |
