By Kim Young-jin
South Korea is concerned about a lingering drought in parts of North Korea and could consider aid measures if enough data were collected on the conditions, an official said Wednesday.
North Korea has reported only one to five millimeters of rain have fallen in parts of Pyongyang and the provinces of Pyongan and Hwanghae since April, representing the lowest amount for the capital city in 105 years. Concern is high that autumn crops could be affected.
“There could be government-level aid if enough data were collected from credentialed sources,” the official said, asking not to be named. “Our basic stance on aid to the North has not changed and we maintain our principle of helping the vulnerable population of North Koreans.”
Seoul maintains strict sanctions on Pyongyang implemented following the deadly sinking of the warship Cheonan in 2010. Last year it lifted the measures slightly to allow for some civic-level aid to cross the border.
Following devastating summer floods last year, Seoul offered the North a $4.4 million aid package consisting of baby food, biscuits and instant noodles. Pyongyang eventually shunned the offer, saying it wanted cement and fertilizer instead.
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk did not say specific actions were being considered but left the door open for future moves.
“The South is experiencing the same (weather conditions). Difficulty with food leads to hardship,” he said during a briefing, adding considerations were being made with “an open mind” and in “view of the overall situation on the peninsula.”
The drought compounds ongoing food woes for the impoverished North.
The Daily NK, a website focused on the North, reported that a nationwide period of mass mobilization for farming activities had been extended for a month to make up for labor shortages in rural areas and to fight the drought. Sources there said elementary school children were helping with irrigation efforts.
Separately, Jerome Sauvage, the United Nations’ resident coordinator for North Korea, said two-thirds of North Koreans have an unreliable food supply and that one-third of children under age 5 show signs of malnutrition.
Sauvage, who released a report on the North’s food situation in Beijing, added that lack resources such as clean water, sanitation and electricity had become leading causes of death among children.
The U.N. appealed for over $200 million in emergency help for the North in 2011 but amid suspicions that Pyongyang diverts aid for military and political purposes, fell well short of the amount.
North Korean premier Choe Yong-rim last month urged workers to drive efforts to ease the food shortage in a rare admission of the problem by a high-ranking official.
The North, which saw a devastating famine in the 1990s, is hindered by deforestation and outdated farming techniques, conditions that make its summers ― that can see both drought and heavy rain ― particularly difficult.