Rice aid in NK`s black markets

The liberal Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations of South Korea provided North Korea with 400,000 to 500,000 tons of food aid per year to help ease food shortages. The North consumes an estimated 5.3 million tons of grain per year but produces just 4.2 million tons, incurring a deficit of 1 million tons every year. Food that Seoul provided to Pyongyang accounted for half of the deficit and hence was expected to significantly ease the hunger of North Koreans. No signs appeared, however, that the North Korean people benefited from South Korean food aid, a situation that posed a puzzle.

John Everard, who served as British ambassador to Pyongyang for two and half years from February 2006, has presented a clue to this puzzle. He told a seminar hosted by Korea Economic Institute of America in Washington that rice in sacks with labels marked "Republic of (South) Korea" or "World Food Program" was traded openly at black markets in North Korea. Food that South Korea and international aid organizations gave to the North are traded in black markets after being embezzled by those in power, including the Kim Jong Il family and power elites of the ruling Workers’ Party and military, rather than being distributed to North Koreans. This means the North`s power elite has been reaping double profits by taking advantage of the hunger of its impoverished people.

Everard said black markets in the North have become a venue where people share news from the outside world. He said North Koreans hear at black markets about major incidents from diverse regions, including public executions and floods, adding the political upheaval in Egypt is a hot topic of conversation there. In the past, about a month was needed for news to spread across North Korea but just three to four days are now needed as black markets are effectively serving as "news hubs." Black markets are both useful and detrimental to the North`s communist regime. Pyongyang fears uncontrolled circulation of information via black markets yet cannot afford to shut them down as its food distribution system has collapsed. The North closed its black markets in January 2009 but backtracked to allow a market economy based on black markets only five months later.

Radio Free Asia says Washington is discussing resuming food aid to Pyongyang. The North rejected humanitarian food aid from the U.S. in 2009 and kicked out staff from international relief organizations. So why is the North now asking for aid by even promising heightened transparency in distribution? Certain experts say Pyongyang intends to stockpile food ahead of 2012, the year when the North has pledged to become a "strong and great nation." Pyongyang should not be allowed to use international food aid to support its power succession from within the family of leader Kim Jong Il.

Editorial Writer Kwon Sun-taek (maypole@donga.com)