WRITTEN QUESTION E-2375/01

by Olivier Dupuis (TDI) to the Commission

(8 August 2001)

Subject: The situation in North Korea

Recent reports published by the media based on first-hand experience by North Korean refugees, who have found asylum on the premises of the UN Commission for Refugees in Beijing, confirm the picture of disaster-stricken country which has already emerged from all reports devoted to the situation in North Korea, not least that produced by the Committee for Refugees of the US Congress. More than 10 % of the population are said to have been killed by the famine, which has lasted since the mid-nineties, and the number is constantly growing. One of the refugees in Beijing, referring to the humanitarian aid given to the regime of Kim Yong Il, said that the products are certainly not distributed to the population. It therefore emerges both from first-hand accounts and from other sources that there is not the slightest sign of any change of direction on the part of Kim Yong Il's regime in the last year, during which various Member States of the Union have launched a policy of normalisation towards the Pyongyang government, endorsed by the EU with the visit by the Troika (Persson, Solana and Patten).

Are there any independent sources that the Commission can ask to ascertain what happens to the aid provided by the Union? If it emerges that the aid is systematically diverted by the regime of Kim Yong Il, will the Commission

renegotiate the conditions for humanitarian aid granted to North Korea, making it dependent on tangible economic and political reforms, starting with the agricultural sector? Furthermore, does the Commission intend to use its influence with the Chinese authorities to persuade them to abandon their systematic policy of extradition with regard to the North Korean refugees who seek refuge and safety in China?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(11 October 2001)

Since 1995, the Commission provides humanitarian aid to North Korea, in the form of food aid (via the Food Aid and Food Security Budget line) and humanitarian assistance (via the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO)).

The Commission has provided to North Korea a total of approximately 168 million of food aid. Initially a food aid assistance programme (mainly cereals, vegetable oil and sugar) it has increasingly been oriented towards support to agricultural rehabilitation (mainly fertilisers, agricultural equipment and projects and technical assistance support) with a view to supporting a sustainable increase in agricultural production as a more coherent approach towards increased food security.

A sum of 38 million has also been provided for humanitarian activities under the ECHO programme such as provision of medicines, water, sanitation and winter cloths to the most vulnerable groups of the North Korean population.

To oversee all these humanitarian and food security activities to monitor Community assistance and ensure correct programme implementation under acceptable working conditions, a technical assistance office and resident expert team have operated in Pyongyang on a permanent basis since 1997. The technical assistance team has noted that, on the one hand, transfers of aid towards the distribution points have been respected, and, on the other hand, the nutritional state of the population of the regions where Community aid is sent, has improved.

The Commission remains concerned about the situation of those fleeing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) across the border with China. The issue has been recently raised at the EU-China Summit on 5 September 2001. The Commission hopes that China, South Korea and the DPRK will cooperate fully with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to resolve this problem.