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| Courtesy of Mercy Corps. |
"A 3-year-old girl weighed less than 16 pounds, surviving on saline solution and ground rice. Babies lay passively, too weak to cry. Relief workers saw stunted and wasted children languishing in unheated hospitals amid floods and reduced rations during an unusually harsh winter."
"That was two years ago. Portland-based Mercy Corps and four other humanitarian organizations given rare access to North Korea warned: "a catastrophic situation is developing." After a year of prodding, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced 120,000 metric tons of food for North Korea. " - By
I empathize with the frustrations and the concerns of the staff of Mercy Corps. Unlike tourists, celebrities, and athletes that have visited North Korea they have personally witnessed what the tourist cannot photograph. Mercy Corps has a laser like focus on feeding North Korean children and they are correct in the their belief that food should not be used as a diplomatic tool or weapon to influence the Dear Leader. The Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un and his closest supporters appear not to have missed many meals.
Mercy Corps knows that withholding food will not affect the party elite. They will eat, and eat well I might add, no matter how much food aid is withheld. I would remind Mercy Corps that their criticism should be tempered if not publicly, at least privately that if Kim Jong-Un is willing to starve and brutalize his own people we should expect that if given the opportunity he would treat anyone outside his borders no differently.
Tourists still visit the Hermit Kingdom. The Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman were wined and dined by the Dear Leader and Mr. Rodman was suitably impressed by Kim Jong-Un. Just recently runners from around the world ran in the Pyongyang Marathon. Who knew that running can generate enough endorphins to quiet conscience. Tour groups are taken to the North Korean side of the DMZ and visit a collective farm. They listen to the "party line" of their guides and when they get back home tell the rest of us how everything seems so peaceful.Although I have not visited North Korea please do not show me your photographs. Mercy Corps has already taken the photos that everyone needs to see. I do not like to think of myself as an angry person, but do not show me a picture of any buffet at some welcome party given to honor your visit. Although unlike you I have not visited the fence that divides North and South Korea. If you have photos of thousands of South Koreans climbing and crawling through the wire to become a citizen of the socialist workers paradise I would be willing to look at those photos.
All in all I hope you had a great time during your visit.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/north-korea-hosts-marathon-war-talk-safety-concerns-article-1.1316433
http://www.mercycorps.org/press-room/releases/aid-agencies-complete-needs-assessment-north-korea
http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2013/04/managers_of_portland-based_mer.html#incart_m-rpt-2
