April 11, 2003

NEW YORK CITY - If you ask Church World Service senior staffer Victor W.C. Hsu about his trip to North Korea April 1-5, be prepared - his description of the smell and taste of fresh-baked bread could make your mouth water.

Mr. Hsu, Senior Advisor to the CWS Executive Director, visited North Korea to monitor delivery of a CWS donation of 1.5 million pounds of fortified flour, intended for children under age seven, pregnant women and nursing mothers - among the most vulnerable of millions of hungry North Koreans who rely on donated food aid to stay alive.

He visited seven of 20 beneficiary institutions, four of them outside Pyongyang, North Korea's capital city. He found the 55-pound CWS bags in good condition in storerooms and kitchens of baby homes, children's centers and maternity hospitals in Pyongyang, the port city of Nampho on the west coast, and South Phyongan Province.

"In each place I was able to determine that the fortified flour was used in a variety of ways," Mr. Hsu reported. "Some use it to make plain buns as snacks. Several mix the flour to make fried dough, apparently most popular with the children. Others make a Japanese-style tempura. As for babies, the flour is mixed with other ingredients to make a nutritious gruel."

At the South Phyongan Children's Center, Mr. Hsu took a picture of a tray of fresh-baked buns - and had a taste. "Delicious!" he said with a smile.

The CWS flour, valued at $151,800, reached Pyonyang by train from Dandong, China, in three shipments March 19-26 and was promptly divided up and transferred to the beneficiary institutions, Mr. Hsu confirmed. CWS sent the flour in response to a direct appeal from the United Nations World Food Program, an important source of aid for hungry North Koreans.

"After years of crop failures, disastrous weather and an economy that is best described as fragile and embattled, millions of North Koreans rely on this food aid to stay alive," said the Rev. John L. McCullough, CWS Executive Director. CWS, the global humanitarian agency of the 36 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member denominations of the National Council of Churches (NCC), has provided $4,250,029 in food aid to North Korea since the outbreak of the food crisis in 1996, and has played a leadership role in InterAction in encouraging humanitarian assistance to that famine-stricken nation.

Mr. Hsu reported that, to his "untrained eye, the babies and children outside Pyongyang were certainly in need of more care. Their physical premises were rundown. Their clothing, bedding and cots looked too used and old. The physical appearance of many of the children distressed me. Many required cleaning and some looked slightly stunted.

"Most of the children in the children's centers in South Pyongan Province and Nampho City were orphans," he continued. "I was unable to obtain a clear picture of how they became orphans. Certainly they are very lucky to have these centers that care for them and provide them with some kindergarten level education. However, their physical appearance reminds me of the street children I come across in my travels around the world."

While in North Korea, Mr. Hsu also met with Rick Corsino, World Food Program Country Director; Umberto Greco, head of the WFP's Food Aid Liaison Unit; senior officials of North Korea,s Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee, and two officials of the Protestant Korean Christians Federation, a long-standing CWS and NCC partner.

The emergency officers of the WFP and other U.N. agency staff reported that they have been able to function according to agreements and that monitoring conditions had not deteriorated, Mr. Hsu said.

Church World Service food aid over the years has contributed to significant reduction of malnutrition among North Korean children since 1998, Mr. Hsu confirmed. In 1998, 61 percent of children under age seven were underweight for their age; in 2002, 21 percent. Wasting, or acute malnutrition, has fallen from 16 percent to 9 percent. Stunting, or chronic malnutrition, has dropped from 62 percent to 42 percent, he said.

"With these positive developments, the U.N. community in North Korea became extremely alarmed in the last quarter of 2002 with the possibility of a drastic drop in food aid," Mr. Hsu said. "A serious shortage in 2003 would require a reduction in the ration, which has been holding steady for some time. It threatens to undo the positive gains in the health of children under 7.

"For that reason, the heads of the WFP and UNICEF as well as Secretary General Kofi Annan sounded the alarm bells urging the U.N. member states and the international community including NGOs to continue to respond generously to the consolidated appeal for $225,291,675. Thus, the CWS shipment helps 20 institutions to bridge the gap during the lean months prior to the next harvest. It enables them to provide nutrition to babies and young children. It continues the up trend of reversing wasting and stunting in North Korea's future generation."

On Monday (March 31), Church World Service issued its latest annual appeal to its member churches for support of relief and rehabilitation programs in North Korea in the areas of agriculture and health. Relief assistance will continue to be available in case of new disasters and for the most vulnerable sections of the population, CWS confirmed. Contributions: P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515; www.churchworldservice.org or phone 800-297-1516.

NCC News Service