Consider the arming of Japan

Offhand, I think they know that they are kind of the laughing stock of the world... with Kim Jong "Buffont Hitler" Il running things. They know their country is in shambles.

What does the world community offer? Food aid? Haven't we learned our lesson yet??? Giving free food to an autocrat simply makes the problem worse. You send two messages: one, you are a awful leader who can't care for your own people... and two, we obviously can do it better. So they horde the food to retain power.

The only way they can get the world community to treat them with genuine respect is to blow shit up. Arming Japan is prudent, but it also just gives them a target.

Personally, I think they are desperate for respect... and if so, our challenge is to show them the mutually beneficial ways they can get that to happen.

--
http://bexhuff.com
Of COURSE you can trust the US Government! Just ask the Indians.

Ring, ring...
C: Hello, is that the Premier of China?
P: yes,
C: We'd like to discuss N Korea, we are alarmed at the events....
P: Sigh...Yes, so are we, we are next door...and those rockets could go anywhere...
C: Yes, those were our concerns too...If N Korea put a Nuke on a rocket, and the rocket went wrong..., it could devastate part of China...
P: Yes, that would be very bad...
C: yes, we have an understanding then, and N Korea is very close to China, and we were wondering if, in the interests of the Chinese People, if you could speak with N Korea...and please let us assure you in this that we would help in any way we can as we don't want to provoke a N Korea incident...
P: Thank you, let us consider, and we will discuss further....
C: Thank you, as very close neighbors of N Korea we are concerned for China's safety...
P: Yes, we are considering that as well...
C: Can we understand that China will talk with N Korea?
P: yes....

China has a problem close by. The US a distant one.

Ring, Ring
C: hello?
P: we thought about korea.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aiq8iNe42T3g&refer=home

C: Thank you
P: Welcome.

Pyongyang tells U.S. aid groups to close N. Korea food programme
20 Mar 2009 18:40:00 GMT

REUTERS/Lena Savelli/WFP/Handout
By Thin Lei Win

BANGKOK, March 20 (AlertNet) - A coalition of five U.S. aid agencies has been told to stop its food aid programme for 900,000 people in North Korea, two months before it was due to be completed, in a further sign of the deteriorating relationship between the two countries.

On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the reclusive North had informed Washington it would not accept further U.S. food assistance, which would have amounted to about 330,000 tonnes before the end of May.

The United States and North Korea agreed last May that Washington would provide 500,000 metric tonnes in food aid over a 12-month period. Wood said the United States had so far delivered 169,000 metric tonnes.

"We are saddened by this decision, but are very proud of what the programme has accomplished," said Mercy Corps, World Vision, Samaritan's Purse, Global Resources Services and Christian Friends of Korea in a joint statement.

"Working closely with our North Korean partners, we have ensured that food reached almost one million vulnerable children, pregnant and nursing mothers, and the elderly," the groups said.

The programme was scheduled to run until May but the team working on it will leave the country by the end of March.

The agencies - all of whom have worked in North Korea for over a decade - have been distributing food aid from Washington in two north western provinces of Chagan and North Pyogan, working closely with local partners.

They said they remained committed to providing assistance in North Korea, and would continue individual programmes focusing on health, water, sanitation and agriculture.

WFP SCALES BACK

Under last year's agreement, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) was to distribute 400,000 tonnes or four-fifths of the aid, and the partnership led by Mercy Corps was to handle the rest.

A WFP spokesperson told the Financial Times this week the organisation has scaled back its food assistance activities in North Korea due to a funding shortfall, adding that progress had been "slower than we hoped" on providing aid.

"WFP hopes that the U.S. will review the humanitarian situation and that food shipments will resume soon," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

WFP says its current operation is only 15 percent of planned levels, with two million people receiving food assistance instead of 6.2 million.

The Financial Times also reports that Pyongyang has told Washington it will kick out WFP staff unless the United States drops a demand the workers include Korean speakers - intended to stop aid being siphoned off by the military. Under last year's deal, Pyongyang agreed to allow aid agencies to include Korean speakers in their missions.

The aid row has erupted as North Korea enters the critical "lean season" when food stocks from the previous year's harvest rapidly run low. In some regions, particularly the northeast, high levels of malnutrition are anticipated, WFP says.

United Nations

Report Claims Hunger-Driven Cannibalism Increasing

Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Hunger is causing North Koreans to turn to cannibalism, the London Telegraph reported Sunday, citing refugee accounts collected by the North Korean Refugees Assistance Fund.

The fund, which the Telegraph describes as an aid group in China dedicated to smuggling food and medicine into North Korea, said a poor harvest in North Korea and cuts in international food aid have reportedly led to incidents of cannibalism. The fund interviewed 200 North Korean refugees, according to the Telegraph.

"If a funeral takes place during the day and the burial is performed that evening, the grave may be dug open and the body stolen before morning," one refugee reportedly said.

Gerald Bourke, the World Food Program's representative in Beijing, said the reports were difficult to confirm because WFP officials were not allowed into markets where human remains were allegedly sold as meat.

"As in any desperately poor country, it is something we might stumble on," Bourke said. "It's not just a problem for us, but also for our donors," Bourke added.

Food aid to North Korea from the United States has fallen from 340,000 tons in 2001 to 40,000 tons so far this year, with 60,000 tons set for delivery if North Korea meets U.S. demands to ease restrictions on WFP operations. Also, Japan, the biggest giver of food aid to North Korea in past years, sent no aid last year (Mark Nicol, London Telegraph, June 8).