[Q] How long have you been in Pyongyang as joint representative of both UNDP and WFP office to North Korea?

[A] "I arrived in Pyongyang in the summer of 1998 as WFP Representative and UN Humanitiarian Coordinator. In November 1999 I was appointed, in addition, as UNDP Resident Representative.”

[Q] I believe that South Koreans are interested in you because you are aruably the most symbolic among many UN officials who have taken part in providing humanitarian aid to North Korea. In this sense, let our readers know your personal history, including your fartherland, career and family, and so on.

[a] "I am British with Scottish ancestry, born 1947 in HongKong, and I am married with two children. My family lives in the UK. I have worked with WFP in many countries during critical situations, including Ethiopia during the mid 1980's famine, Bosnia during the war, Thai/Cambodian border in the early 1980s, and several countries in Africa including Zimbabwe, Malawi and Lesotho.”

[Q] What did you think about North Korea before coming to the North? In particular, what did you think about the Communist country’s situation of shortage of necessities and political system? And how much are the thoughts you had before coming to North Korea different with the impressions you have had after coming to the Communist North? What is the most important difference between the two?

[a] "I have worked in many countries with different political systems, including communist systems, and often in difficult working and living conditions. In that sense, adapting to the living and working conditions in the DPRK is not so difficult for me. Before I came to the DPRK I had read all the reports about the country, which made it out to be a harsh place. When I arrived I found that, no matter what systems a country works under, the ordinary people are just people, much the same as all over the world.

[Q] I understand that the mission of representative of WFP is different with that of UNDP. Could you tell our readers the most important thing of each mission of WFP and UNDP in Pyongyang?

[a] "WFP's role in the DPRK since 1995 is to address the immediate humanitarian food needs of the country. WFP targets international food aid, including the generous contribution from ROK, mainly to children from 7 months to 16 years, at nurseries, kindergartens, orphanages, primary schools, secondary schools, paediatric hospitlas.

Food aid is also targeted to pregnant and nursing mothers, so that they can give birth to healthier babies, and can breast feed them. Some of the elderly also get food aid. WFP also supports a large food-for-work programme, where workers and their families receive food rations in return for their labour on projects identified at the county level. These projects are usually designed to increase food production or plant trees so can have some lasting impact.

Typically, they included repair to irrigation systems, repair to river embankments, recovery of fields damaged by floods etc.
UNDP is supporting medium term efforts aimed at agricultural recovery programmes and also environmental protection. If food production can be increased through these means, then less food aid will be needed in the future, so it complements the WFP programme, and provides an exit strategy for the humanitarian assistance.

UNDP, together with agencies such as FAO, IFAD and NGOs, supports increased production inputs such as fertiliser, through crop intensification (double cropping through the planting of winter and spring wheat and barley) better seeds, better agricultural information systems. UNDP provides a framework through which donor assistance can be provided either bilaterally (as in the case of ROK fertiliser) or multilaterally, according to the donor's preference.

UNDP also provides a small management team that seeks to ensure that management and reporting are consistent with international standards.
The fact that I am the Representative of both UNDP and WFP means that we can have a smooth complementary programme of humanitarian assistance and recovery assistance. Donors have tended to support the humanitarian programmes, but not the recovery programmes.”

[Q] I know that the UNDP has since 1998 pushed ahead with the AREP project aimed at improving North Korea’s agricultural rehabilitation and environmental protection. Let our readers know why has the UNDP promoted the project. And is the project estimated to be successful?

[a] "I have answered most of this under (4). The "UNDP medium-term programme provides an exit strategy for the humanitarian food aid, so that less will be required in future. The problem is that donors have not provided as much support in terms of funding for the agricultural programmes as they have for the humanitarian programmes.”

[Q] According to recent news, WFP and UNDP plan to provide humanitarian aid of grain and other necessities worth of about $ 316 million and $ 40 million with the help of governments and NGOs of UN member countries in the year of 2001, respectively. How much is the amount of humanitarian aid the two UN bodies have provided to the North since the 1990s?

[a] "WFP has provided approximately 2.8 million tons food aid valued at $1.2 billion since 1995. UNDP has provided over $7.5 million since 1997.”

[Q] Many North Korea watchers in the West have so far been worried that the possibility is very high that because the Pyongyang government distributes a considerable amount of foreign humanitarian aid of food and other necessities to soldiers, most North Korean citizen could not but be given a little amount. In this context, I know, foreign humanitarian organizations, including UNDP and WFP, have asked for North Korea to permit them to check out the distribution process of foreign humanitarian aid to citizen without any limitation, and the Pyongyang government has reportedly refused the request.

According to a consensus statement recently issued by 20 international agencies and NGOs engaged in humanitarian projects in North Korea, however, the Pyongyang government has eased its strict restrictions on their activities to monitor how fair is the foreign humanitarian aid being distributed to ordinary people. What do you think about this matter?

[a] "We don't think that much of the food aid goes to soldiers. Soldiers prefer rice, and there is enough Korean rice from the nation's harvest to provide them with what they need. The aid is usually provided by donors in the form of yellow maize/corn and wheat, which are not so popular, and so is more likely to reach the people for whom it is intended. When we look at the dramatic improvement in the health of the WFP beneficiaries - the children - since 1997 - it is clear that the aid is reaching them. It is important for your readers to understand that adults in the DPRK are not supposed to get WFP aid unless they are pregnant/nursing women, the elderly or food-for-work workers. There is not enough aid to provide assistance to all the adults in the country. So when adults complain that they do not get aid, and say that it must be going somewhere else, it is because they are not supposed to get the aid in the first place. To provide enough aid for all the adults in the country is a task well beyond that capacity of WFP to implement.

WFP is increasing its international staff to 56 persons this year, from 46 persons last year. More than half of the international staff are conducting monitoring visits to the nurseries, kindergartens and schools, as well as to peoples homes. Between 250 and 300 seperate monitoring visits are made each month. It is true that we cannot do spontaneous visits or tru random checks, and we are not satisfied with these restrictions. WFP can visit 167 counties out of 211, and aid is provided only where it is possible to visit. WFP has sub offices permanently staffed by international personnel at Hyesan in Rangang, Sinuiju in North Pyonggan, Wonsan in Kangwon, Hamhung in South Hamgyong, Chongjin in North Hamgyong."


[Q] At the April 16 press conference in Beijing, you revealed that North Korea has faced the worst situation of food shortage this year since 1996 because its grain production of last year amounts to just two thirds of grain needed in the country for one year. You also predicted that the humanitarian aid of grain provided by South Korea would be exhausted next month. Let our readers know how severe is the food shortage of North Korea. The more concrete is your explanation about the current situation of the North concerning food shortage, the more sympathetic will be South Koreans to the humanitarian aid of food and other necessities. I'm convinced that your explanation would be a momentum to lead the public opinion of South Korea to increase its food aid to the North.

[a] "Because of the dry Spring last year, the harvest was not good, in fact the worst since 1997. 1.86 million tons is short of the minimum needs, as estimated by WFP and FAO. Most of last year's harvest has already been consumed, by January. Since then, 200 grammes per day of ROK bilaterally donated food is being distributed through the Public Dsitribtuion System, but we estimate that this may be consumed by the end of May. After that, there will be very little food available to ordinarly people until June, when potatoes are ready, and the winter and spring planted wheat and barley are harvested. Also, vegetables will be more plentiful then. Already in some counties we see preparations being made for the production of "alternative foods' but these can cause digestion problems for weak people, especially the elderly and children. The people who will suffer most from the coming food shortages during the lean season will be those living in the large industrial cities, particulary where the industries are not working at full capacity. The people who are targeted for food aid (children, pregnant and nursing women, the elderly) will be sustained by the food aid, so long as WFP receives enough pledges to last until the end of the year.

Health care has been affected by a shortage of medicines and equipement, by lack of fuel and lack of heating in the winter. Domestic water supplies are affected by a shortage of chemicals for purification, aging pipes and pumps, and a shortage of electricity for electrical pumping.
The shortage of food, which makes people weak, is made worse if people get ill from drinking contaminated water, and this combined with the problems in health care means that the problems of shortage of food, impure water and lack of health resources must be addressed simultaneously. The problem is that donors have been generous with food aid, but less generous to support water purification and improved health programmes.”

[Q] I remember that you pointed out at the same press conference that if North Korea fails to find out a way to revive its moribund economy, the servere food shortage problem would not be solved. In this sense, our readers want to know whether the Pyongyang government will reform its command economy to market economy for the purpose of improving its production force or not. I guess that because you have always contacted officials of the Pyongyang government as joint representative of both UNDP and WFP, you might have catched from the officials a meaningful clue to solve the puzzle. What do you think about this matter?

[a] "DPRK is an industrial country rather than an agricultural one. There is a shortage of arable land (20% only) and the growing season is short. Therefore it will be difficult for the country to be self-sufficient in food on a sustainable basis. The success of agriculture also depends upon other parts of the economy working properly - there is a need for energy to power the fertilizer factories, and to power the electrical pumps for irrigation; there is a need for fuel to transport fertiliser and the harvest; there is a need for industrial plants to produce new agricultural equipment such as tractors; there is a need for for foreign exchange (and therefore they need to have exports to earn foreign exchange) to import fuel, and the raw materials for the manufactur of fertilizer. Foreign exchange is also needed to import the raw materials for medicines and water purification chemicals. All this requires a recovery in the industrial sector, and until that happens there will be a need for humanitarian assistance to continue.”

[Q] Lastly, South Koreans have felt the inter-Korean relationship since the South-North Korean Summit fast changing. I believe that while staying in Pyongyang, you have witnessed how has the summit influenced on North Korea in the fields of politics, economy, society and military. Let our readers know how much has the North changed.

[a] "I noticed a mood of optimism in the country after the Historic Summit last year, and an easing of tension. Agencies here have noticed that it is becoming easier to have more meaningful dialogues and discussions with our counterparts in the Government. The Summit and the increased diplomatic relations with other countries has meant many more visiting delegations to Pyongyang, and more Koreans travelling abroad for training programmes etc. We hope that this process will lead to reconciliation, cooperation and eventual peaceful reunification, for the benefit of all the Korean people.”
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