Loosening the screws

By John Burton

In recent weeks, the United Nations has been quietly accelerating approval of exemptions for international humanitarian groups to deliver aid to North Korea amid reports that food conditions are deteriorating and cases of tuberculosis and malaria are rising.

In July and August, the U.N. Sanctions Committee on North Korea granted exemptions to eight groups compared to the 10 exemptions given for all of the first half of 2019.

International aid groups cannot ship any material, ranging from toothpaste and hospital gowns to medical equipment and building supplies, without the approval of the so-called 1718 Sanctions Committee, named after the U.N. resolution that first imposed international sanctions on North Korea in 2006.

New estimates suggest that the food crisis in North Korea is worsening. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) recently said that a severe drought in North Korea this spring, the worst in a century, could cut the expected harvest output this year in half. This follows a poor harvest in 2018, the worst in a decade, with 40 percent of the population facing food shortages. Meanwhile, there are warnings that supplies of medicines in North Korea to deal with TB could run out by mid-2020.

The U.N. exemptions focus on dealing with food insecurity, combating TB and malaria, and improving health services and sanitation programs.

The exemptions have been granted to a wide range of humanitarian groups. They include international organizations such as the U.N. Children's Fund, the IFRC, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Swiss Humanitarian Aid.

European non-governmental organizations are also playing a prominent role, including Handicap International, Premiere Urgence Internationale and Triangle Generation Humanitaire from France, Concern Worldwide from Ireland, and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe from Germany. All of them operate under European Union funding.

And finally there are faith-based American groups including the Eugene Bell Foundation, Christian Friends of Korea, World Vision International, the Mennonite Central Committee and Love North Korea Missions.

There are increased signs of urgency in dealing with the humanitarian crisis in North Korea. The 1718 Committee, for example, has cleared a backlog of exemption requests that date back to last year.

This follows complaints by several humanitarian groups about unreasonable sanctions enforcement standards that appear to run counter to the U.N.'s declaration that sanctions should not affect humanitarian aid.

Aid organizations have had difficulties in shipping supplies containing any metal and iron materials, which are normally prohibited from export to North Korea under current U.N. sanctions.

Canada's First Steps Health Society, for example, had to wait months before being allowed by the U.N. to ship 300 20-liter stainless-steel soy milk cans to help feed hungry children. Long-sought approval by the Eugene Bell Foundation to deliver lab equipment and prefabricated patient wards for its mainstay TB program has only been granted in the last month.

Paying for supplies can also be problematic since sanctions-related financial restrictions discourage banks from handling transactions related to procurement and operating expenses for organizations working in North Korea.

The restrictions forced the American Friends Service Committee to temporarily suspend its agricultural program in 2017 and led Save the Children to withdraw from North Korea last year.

Nonetheless, the growing humanitarian crisis in North Korea is persuading some organizations to return. Medecins Sans Frontieres decided to resume activities in North Korea this year after it withdrew in 1998 when it complained about difficulties in working conditions imposed by the government, although it also returned briefly in 2012 and 2015.

Another key test is whether the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will reverse its decision last year to stop financing its multi-million dollar TB program in North Korea. Many in the humanitarian community believe that the Global Fund decided to cut off funding in response to pressure from the U.S. and Japan, two of its biggest donors.

A senior South Korean foreign ministry official recently reminded the Global Fund that his government had contributed nearly $12 million to it over the last three years as the international aid organization held a forum in Seoul to help raise money before it holds a general meeting in France this month.

A recent study by Dr. Kee B. Park, who is a Harvard Medical School faculty member and director of the North Korea Program at the Korean American Medical Association, estimated that delays in granting sanctions exemptions and funding shortfalls had caused nearly 4,000 preventable deaths in North Korea last year.

The study concluded that the U.N. should not allow “the desperation of ordinary people to become a political tool. The future success of the U.N.'s humanitarian mission will depend on how much the U.N.'s own system can protect itself from members who choose to use the organization to further their own interests."

John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is now a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.