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Food, Not Bombs

AP photo / Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service

Kim Jong Il, center, with Korean People’s Army soldiers in North Korea during an inspection last August.

Remember when North Korea loomed menacingly as the next big nuclear threat on the world stage, with cognac-swilling Communist Kim Jong Il starring as the latest dictator du jour? What a difference a few years can make: The North Korean government has now demonstrated its willingness to halt the country’s nuclear weapons program and has begun accepting food shipments from the U.S. and increased aid from the World Food Program.

International Herald Tribune:

A U.S. cargo ship carrying humanitarian aid made a rare visit to North Korea on Monday, and the Communist North agreed to give international aid workers the most access so far to its hunger-stricken land, the United Nations food agency said.

The American ship’s visit and the North Korean agreement to invite an additional 50 international relief experts from the World Food Program, as well as a consortium of U.S. humanitarian agencies, followed fresh signs of progress in efforts to shut down the North’s nuclear programs.

For years, North Korea has jealously guarded its people from contacting outside aid workers. The World Food Program, the largest aid group operating in North Korea, has only 10 international staffers based there.

The North’s agreement on access came as a confluence of internal and external factors was pushing the country toward a major food crisis: two consecutive years of bad harvest, rising grain prices that curtailed the North’s ability to import food, and dwindling bilateral assistance from South Korea and China, its two most generous aid providers in recent years.

“To some degree, this agreement is part of a greater openness by North Korea,” said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the World Food Program based in Bangkok.

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TAGS: axis of evil china communist dictator international aid kim jong il north korea nuclear south korea terrorism united nations wheat world food program

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By Keith McHenry, July 1, 2008 at 2:11 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Yes there is a Food Not Bombs and we have been active in Korea for years. As the global economy crashes we will be there to help you get food and all the other things you might need. Please join or start a Food Not Bombs in your community. We fed Katrina, Camp Casey and the Orange Revolution. Visit http://www.foodnotbombs.net and find out how you can get involved.

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By ---, June 30, 2008 at 4:30 pm #

The fact is there is no North Korea “problem” or “situation.” There is only a U.S. government problem.

I invite TruthDig readers to my article:

The North Korea “Problem”?

You may read it at

http://www.nolanchart.com/article4139.html

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By Bill Blackolive, June 30, 2008 at 3:18 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Tawny Jones, exactly right. In the 21st century the twentieth century US gov. is flapdoodle far out. Our children may marvel, or some might, but these youth seek intrigue elsewhere right now. They know about the US government 911 cover-up, but this also bores their generation.
Still, we need to bring this thing into a corporate tv dialogue, because historically, all could be worse in a night. For proof see Patriotsquestion911.

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By Tawny Jones, June 30, 2008 at 2:21 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Guess what? There was no country called “North Korea”, until it was created by the Truman gang as another pawn in the cold war. Korea, a 3000 year-old homogenous culture, never asked anything except to be left alone. Koreans would have reunited long ago were it not for the United States.

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