Sir, - As Ireland commemorates the 150th anniversary of its worst famine year, the world looks on as North Korea is experiencing a similar disaster. Restricted access to the country has resulted in limited coverage of the situation but reports from Trocaire's partner agency, Caritas, confirm that thousands of people are dying and the situation is deteriorating. People are surviving on a half bowl of rice a day which they mix with grass and treebark to make as meat. It is estimated that at least 100,000 people have starved slowly to death already.
The refusal of the North Korean government to acknowledge the scale of the disaster has resulted in a scepticism among the international community about the effectiveness of sending relief aid. However, in reality, a humanitarian disaster of vast proportions is occurring and the international community has a duty to respond; the people who have lost all their crops should not be victimised as a result of government neglect.
Although the famine in North Korea has only received media coverage in recent weeks, it has been happening for almost three years. Unprecedented floods in 1995 and 1996 caused extensive damage to the agricultural sector which in turn resulted in severe food shortages. For the past year Trocaire, with Irish government assistance, has channelled £159,000 of aid directly to famine victims through Caritas Hong Kong, who has the facility to visit North Korea on a regular basis. However, such aid efforts are now proving inadequate with the growing scale of the disaster. A recent report from Caritas Hong Kong tells us that "North Korea is on the verge of a major disaster if no help is forthcoming within the next few weeks. North Korea needs help immediately: not only emergency food aid, but fertilisers, seeds, pesticides and agricultural development aid also to boost future harvests." The international community must act now. Yours, etc
Director,
Trocaire,
Booterstown Avenue,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.