FIRST UN FOOD AID TO ARRIVE IN DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Press Release
WFP/1019
FIRST UN FOOD AID TO ARRIVE IN DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
19951124 ROME, 23 November (WFP) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) will deliver an emergency shipment of rice to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 24 November for distribution to 500,000 hungry people left destitute by recent floods.The initial shipment of 5,140 tons of rice represents the first United Nations food aid ever sent to the country.
A chartered Russian freighter carried the rice to the port of Nampo as the first consignment in WFP's planned $8.8 million emergency food assistance programme. The relief plan calls for WFP to provide a total of 20,250 tons of rice and 675 tons of vegetable oil, enough to feed half million hungry Koreans for 90 days.
"Our top priority is to get this emergency food assistance as quickly as possible to tens of thousands of people directly affected by the floods", said WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini. "This humanitarian aid will benefit only the most needy, who lost their homes and food supplies in this disaster."
The WFP launched the operation after the worst rains in 100 years prompted an unprecedented appeal for help from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. So far, only Denmark and Finland have contributed, a total of $192,439, forcing the WFP to use its scarce emergency funds to pay for the first shipment.
The WFP food assistance will be shipped by rail and truck to the areas worst hit by the storms, the rural northwestern provinces of Chagang and North Pyongan and the western province of North Hwanghae. All of the beneficiaries are farmers whose homes and food stocks were washed away by the floods.
While distribution will be handled by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Ministry of Food Administration, the WFP has stationed international personnel in the country to monitor the process from arrival at the port to final distribution to the hungry in the countryside. The WFP opened an office in the capital of Pyongyang earlier this month.
A United Nations fact-finding mission reported in September that the floods caused "severe damage to agriculture, property and infrastructure" and
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it estimated that up to 1.5 million tons of grain had been lost. In some of the affected areas, children are surviving on a diluted porridge made from corn, which many youngsters have difficulty digesting.
The fact-finding mission said that the nutritional status of preschool- aged children was already marginal as indicated by an "apparently high prevalence of moderate and severe stunting". It said the children were at a very high risk of more severe health problems as the bitter cold winter approached.
"We're extremely worried about malnutrition developing because many food warehouses are empty", said Trevor Page, WFP's country director in Pyongyang.
Before the storm, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Government estimated it would suffer a deficit of 1.97 million tons of grain, raising the overall food shortfall following the rains to over 3 million tons. Past deficits have been made up by commercial food imports, especially by wheat obtained by barter from the former Soviet Union, which is no longer an option for the country.
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