ID :
91617
Wed, 11/25/2009 - 17:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/91617
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea calls for implementation of int`l aid commitments
By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has urged the United Nations' food and
agriculture agency to take steps to ensure that developed nations implement their
proclaimed aid commitments, amid reports of chronic food shortages in the
communist country.
The North's Korea Central News Agency said that a North Korean representative
gave a speech on Nov. 20 in Rome at the Food and Agriculture Organization's 36th
general assembly, urging the FAO to "take a positive step to ensure that the
developed countries unconditionally and sincerely implement the internationally
proclaimed aid commitments."
The North's harvest this year is believed to fall more than one million tons
short of food to feed its 24 million people. South Korean visitors have reported
the ill conditions of rice paddies and corn fields due to the lack of fertilizer.
The World Food Program has said North Korea will need more than 800,000 tons of
food aid from abroad to feed its 24 million people this year.
The unidentified representative also noted that the U.N. food agency should
"channel primary efforts into creating an international environment for achieving
sustainable agricultural development to weather the food crisis."
The FAO, the representative added, should aid its members to "work out
agricultural strategies and policies suited to their actual conditions."
The North has frontloaded its efforts to "attain grain production goals to solve
the food shortage by its own efforts," the official said, adding that the country
will boost cooperative relations with FAO members to ensure world food security.
Seoul has ruled out any large-scale aid, in line with its support for U.N.
sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear test in May. The punitive
sanctions aim to curb financial benefits that flow into the country and could
fund its atomic and missile programs.
In October, North Korea requested humanitarian aid from the South during Red
Cross talks over cross-border family reunions. It was the North's first official
request for assistance from the conservative Lee government.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has urged the United Nations' food and
agriculture agency to take steps to ensure that developed nations implement their
proclaimed aid commitments, amid reports of chronic food shortages in the
communist country.
The North's Korea Central News Agency said that a North Korean representative
gave a speech on Nov. 20 in Rome at the Food and Agriculture Organization's 36th
general assembly, urging the FAO to "take a positive step to ensure that the
developed countries unconditionally and sincerely implement the internationally
proclaimed aid commitments."
The North's harvest this year is believed to fall more than one million tons
short of food to feed its 24 million people. South Korean visitors have reported
the ill conditions of rice paddies and corn fields due to the lack of fertilizer.
The World Food Program has said North Korea will need more than 800,000 tons of
food aid from abroad to feed its 24 million people this year.
The unidentified representative also noted that the U.N. food agency should
"channel primary efforts into creating an international environment for achieving
sustainable agricultural development to weather the food crisis."
The FAO, the representative added, should aid its members to "work out
agricultural strategies and policies suited to their actual conditions."
The North has frontloaded its efforts to "attain grain production goals to solve
the food shortage by its own efforts," the official said, adding that the country
will boost cooperative relations with FAO members to ensure world food security.
Seoul has ruled out any large-scale aid, in line with its support for U.N.
sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear test in May. The punitive
sanctions aim to curb financial benefits that flow into the country and could
fund its atomic and missile programs.
In October, North Korea requested humanitarian aid from the South during Red
Cross talks over cross-border family reunions. It was the North's first official
request for assistance from the conservative Lee government.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
