Alaskans Can - And Should - Come to the Aid of North Korea

by Fred Dyson

Famine is endangering the lives of millions of people in North Korea. Hundreds of thousands of children are suffering from the irreversible health effects of eating meager amounts of a gruel-like substance.

First hand accounts indicate many children and elderly are dying. According to the United Nations' World Food Program, the only food in North Korea today has been donated by governments and humanitarian aid organizations.

This is all the more tragic because it is unnecessary.

The famine can be traced to problems associated with one of the world's last communist societies. Nearly 50 years of a government-based food distribution system, based on ideology rather than science, have led to the devastation of a once productive culture.

Senator Ted Stevens visited North Korea in February of this year. He told me of seeing areas where all livestock, all crops and virtually all of the plants had been eaten. Even the pets - dogs and cats - were nowhere to be seen. Trees were disappearing as people supplemented their small allotments of rice with sawdust and boiled bark in a desperate attempt to add protein to their meager diet.

At the same time, Senator Stevens said the leadership North Korea has tried to convince the people that their problems are caused by the United States and its "Asian puppet state," South Korea. The Senator shook his head as he told me that the North Koreans believed that the U.S. had a huge fleet just off shore and that the country was being mobilized to repel an impending invasion.

All of us must wonder about the wisdom of rescuing such a regime. However, it is the people who are suffering, not the leadership. Punishing the peasants for the sins of their government is illogical and inhumane.

In addition to the humanitarian reasons to rush to the aid of North Korea, there are some compelling international and national security concerns that must be considered. The isolated leaders in North Korea are perfectly capable of sending their very large army crashing into South Korea. The U.S. has more than 36,000 troops stationed in South Korea, plus air power units in Japan and Okinawa which will immediately be placed at risk and thrown into the conflict.

Between 1950 and 1953, the U.S. poured 33,651 young lives into the defense of South Korea. We must not be forced to do it again.

This winter, our State Legislature was given a briefing from military experts. They indicated that North Korea currently has missiles capable of reaching U.S. bases in Japan and is on the verge of extending that limit to Southwestern Alaska. It seems absurd that the U.S. should have to worry about any threat from North Korea.

But these are strange times. It certainly is in our national interest to have a stable regime and for the North Korean government to use military force as a means to remedy a self-induced famine.

If we are going to help the people of North Korea we must be reasonably certain that the food will get to the people who need it and not be siphoned off by government and military agencies. Several times in the last half dozen years the U. S. government has faced the same question and has utilized the experience and integrity of international relief organizations like World Vision. This organization has an enviable record in difficult hot spots like Rumania, Bosnia, and post-colonial Africa. In North Korea, it is establishing a system to provide food and medical supplies to orphanages and villages.

Ten years ago, when Africa was face with wide-spread famine, thousands of Alaskans contributed generously. I was involved with "Alaska Cares For Africa." We raised about $780,000 for relief in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Ethiopia. Several Alaskans went with the supplies and equipment to assure they were used as intended. Our efforts were directed toward long term development work -- such as drilling water wells and establishing crop irrigation systems.

The Alaskans who have visited those areas report back that the people and the villages are being transformed. In the past, the women spent six hours each day walking to a waterhole and then carrying the water back on their heads. Having abundant water has not only increased the productivity of the local farms, but it has revolutionized the lives of the women. Now they have more hours per day to spend nurturing their children, helping with the farming and learning how to read and write. They have a life of their own.

In addition, in 1993, I visited Maharasta State in central India to see and work in village projects sponsored by Alaskans. These projects provided a trained local Indian social worker in the village to teach children and adults, operate a clinic, offer access to farming technology and, once again, provide clean abundant water.

We observed the results after only a year, and they were impressive. We saw a mud wattle building full of eager little kids studying and 20 men learning to read by a single 40 watt light at 10 p.m. A proud young man showed me the shirts he was making on a treadle sewing machine. All this was being done for around $300 per month of Alaskan money. These are dollars well spent.

Now there is an opportunity for Alaskans to put their shoulders to the wheel and help out in Korea. We need to encourage our congressional delegation to remove all barriers to relief efforts. Call our Senators and Representative in Congress:

• Senator Ted Stevens (907) 271-5915
• Senator Frank Murkowski (907) 271-3735
• Congressman Don Young (907) 271-5978

The United States is now just beginning to exercise leadership in responding to famine in North Korea. The recent announcement of an additional donation of 100,000 metric tons of food represents an important step.

More, however, is needed. Much more.

All famines are complicated by politics; no famine this century has occurred in a democracy. However, the motives of a country's leaders should be immaterial: We must decide to help starving children and their grandparents because we care, not because we believe North Korea is good or bad. To do otherwise diminishes America's own moral standing.

[Fred Dyson is a member of the Alaska State House of Representatives from Chugiak/Eagle River. For more information on World Vision's efforts in North Korea, call toll-free (888) 511-6500.]