The members of the first-ever multi-party delegation of Irish politicians to visit North Korea have been shocked by the conditions they found there and are deeply concerned at the prospect of a major famine this winter. According to Mr Justin Kilcullen of Trocaire, who accompanied the politicians, North Korea faces "a major humanitarian crisis". According to the German Red Cross, the famine there is one of the worst the world has seen since the second World War; one report says around 10,000 North Korean children are dying of starvation every month.
Now North Korea is accusing the US of using food as a weapon to get "political concessions" in talks aimed at working out a durable peace for the Korean peninsula. North Korea walked out of the second round of the four-party talks involving the two Koreas, China and the US, late on Friday, and US and South Korean officials blame Pyongyang for the collapse of the talks by demanding large food aid. The Foreign Ministry in Pyongyang claims the US wanted to use the talks to wring political concessions from the North, using food as a weapon. For its part, North Korea wants all 37,000 US troops withdrawn from the Korean peninsula and wants economic sanctions eased.
South Korean government officials believe the North Koreans are playing for time to avoid giving South Korea's President Kim Young-sam a diplomatic coup before presidential elections in December. The current front-runner in opinion polls is the veteran dissident, Kim Dae-jung, who holds out the promise of a more conciliatory response to the North. In the run-up to the election, the South Korean government cannot afford to take the risk of being exposed to criticism about its interests in the talks. Having provided 150,000 tonnes of free rice to North Koreans, the government was accused of trying to trade rice bought with tax payers' money for a diplomatic coup to impress voters, and the ruling New Korea Party took a tumble in recent local elections. But Pyongyang's accusations against Seoul and Washington have a hollow ring to them. Visitors to North Korea point out that despite starvation and the threat of famine, the party elite in Pyongyang are visibly better off.
Despite North Korea's accusations that Washington and Seoul have been using food as a weapon, North Korea has also used food and aid as bargaining chips, going to great lengths before the talks to give the impression that it would soften its position once it had received a promise of food aid. Now North Korea says the US should provide food aid as a sign of goodwill in the wake of the collapse of the talks; it is tantamount to seeking a reward for spoiling the talks.
Although the Korean War ended in 1953, there is still no formal treaty between the US and North Korea, or between North Korea and South Korea. The continuing tension on the Korean peninsula has been one of the principal stumbling blocks to a global agreement on banning landmines. The failure of Pyongyang to negotiate in a meaningful way can only help to further isolate the world's last remaining Stalinist outpost, delay any hopes of a real global agreement on landmines, and continue in the most callous way to jeopardise the lives of hundreds of thousands of children facing famine and starvation.