Food in the North

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North Korea Prayer Bulletin 2008 September-October

Food in the North

After the famine in the late nineties attracted international attention, many think of hunger when they think of the DPRK. In this article an overview will be presented of the recent and current food situation in the North.

Up to the seventies, North Chosun was one of the more prosperous countries in East Asia. Rich in natural resources and having good economic ties with other communist giants, it had developed fast after the devastation of the Korean War. However, the fall of communism in Russia and other parts of Europe was a heavy blow on the DPRK’s economy.

In the late nineties, these economic problems, combined with bad harvests due to heavy floods, led to a large food shortage. The rationing system, on which people were dependent for their daily needs, could no longer be maintained. Estimates of the death toll were at least one million. The suffering behind these numbers is unimaginable. When news about this famine reached the international press, many Christians world wide felt the urged to start praying for North Korea.

As a result of this hardship, the DPRK accepted food aid from other countries to compensate for the shortage in production. The US gradually decreased the amount of help in the years following the famine, but both China and the Republic of Korea have donated about 500.000 tons of food every year since then.

Although harvests improved, with 2005 being a top year, there was never enough to cover the basic needs of the people. The DPRK needed help from abroad, both for food and fertilizers. This also opened an opportunity for Christians to turn their concern into action. Christian groups have been involved in small scale food projects, such as distributing bread and milk to school children.

So although the situation improved since the famine in the late nineties, it remained far from ideal. A survey conducted in 2004 by the DKRP government in conjunction with the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF, found "37 percent of young children to be chronically malnourished, and one-third of mothers both malnourished and anemic" (www.wfp.org).

At this moment many experts believe another major famine is on its way. There are several reasons for this. Last year severe flooding damaged the harvest, as well as bringing wide spread devastation to houses and infrastructure. The harvest as a result fell short of the expectations.

When Lee Myung Bak was elected president of the ROK, tensions with the North grew. As a result, the DPRK has not received their usual amount of fertilizer in the spring from the ROK, which is bad news for this year's harvest. The North has also not applied to receive the usual half a million tons of grain.

At the Northern border there is trouble too. Due to worldwide rises in food prices, China has stopped exporting grain. Right now the government rationing system can no longer provide for the people, and they are using their savings to buy food; in turn, this is becoming increasingly difficult. The price of rice is almost three times as high as it is normally this time of the year.

The World Food Program, currently feeding 1.2 million people, says 6.4 million people need their help and is appealing for help. The US is currently shipping large quantities of food to the North, but it is far from enough. An additional 50 international people have been employed to monitor the distribution of food. Some Christian organizations have risen to the challenge and have received permission from the government to distribute food aid in northern regions.

The above account is a very factual story. Let’s also not forget to pray for the millions of people who struggle to keep their families alive up to the next harvest and beyond. In times like this, when the attention of the world is focused on nuclear and security issues, Christians are called to also remember the weak and vulnerable in their hardship and stand with them in any way they can.

The Other Half of Korea

(This is an excerpt from an article was written for the English newspaper for Mission Korea, a mission conference for young people held near Seoul, Korea Aug 4-9. About 200 international delegates were there, and the newspaper was for them. Used here by permission.)

Thursday evening the meal here was very simple: a potato, a cob of corn and a cucumber. Many in the other half of Korea often eat like this. They might not have the cucumber or even have the potato. 40 miles north of South is another nation that is Korea but is not South Korea: North Korea.

What’s the difference between the two nations? In the South, we have food to eat and meals three times a day. Most in the North have two meals a day and little food to eat. The South has air con in the summer and heated floors in the winter. The North has no air con and little fuel for heating in the winter. Young men in the South serve in the military for about two years; both men and women in the North serve in the military, men about 10 years and women about 3-5 years. The South lives in a democratic, capitalistic society; the North lives in a communist, socialist society. The South has Internet; the North, by and large, does not. The South has free press and the freedom to disagree even with the government. The North’s government controls the press, radio and television and takes care of those who oppose the government. The South respects its president. People in the North have statutes and pictures of its two leaders throughout the country and in every home and building. And, the South has freedom of religion. We here in the South have the freedom to gather in the name of Jesus, possess Bibles, praise the Lord Jesus openly, have church buildings, send missionaries. The North does not have these freedoms – yet.

North Korea has about 23 million souls. The North has lived under a communist regime since the 1950s. At first it was largely supported by Russia. In the last 20-30 years, their main ideology has gone beyond communism to ‘juche’ (joo-chay), literally ‘self-reliance’; another word for this is ‘Kim Il-Sungism,’ meaning all the things that Kim Il-Sung taught. Pyongyang has two or three state-run churches in that city. Most of the Christians in that country meet very quietly in very small groups.

In the North, the best universities are in Pyongyang, the capital and showcase city of the nation. The students who make it to the Kim Il Sung University, the best university in the nation, are very carefully selected. University students spend about half of their study hours on classes related to their major; the other classes are on juche ideology and Kim Il Sungism, studying what Kim Il Sung wrote and taught and reading and studying biographies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the present leader of the country (Kim Il Sung died in 1994 but is revered as the eternal president).

How can Christians reach out in ministry to this unreached people group of North Koreans? Traditional missionaries cannot enter the country. Some businessmen, educators and health care workers are able to enter. It is very hard for a South Korean citizen to get into North Korea. It is easier for non-US citizens to enter. More and more groups connected to the carpenter are getting involved in North Chosun work. God’s Kingdom is growing there; but right now it is very quiet.

We can all pray for North Korea . . .

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