Sustenance or Sanctions?

North Korea is facing a major food shortage. Although the country has struggled to feed its people for over two decades, following a famine that killed one million people, the situation has worsened: an estimated 11 million people—40% of the population—are currently malnourished, including one in five children whose growth is stunted due to chronic malnutrition.

The notoriously secretive country publicly admitted that it lacks enough food to feed its people in a February memo authored by Kim Song, the North Korean ambassador to the United Nations. However, the announcement was met with skepticism and considered a ploy to reduce sanctions, as it was coincidentally announced ahead of President Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam. Although North Korea does not publish internal statistics, the head of the UN World Food Programme has confirmed the dire situation in North Korea and is calling for humanitarian aid despite the sanctions.

The United Nations has imposed sanctions on North Korea for decades in an effort to force the country to surrender its nuclear arsenal. In addition to the embargoes, travel bans, asset freezes, and trade restrictions the UN has imposed, the United States imposed additional sanctions of its own: in 2017, President Trump imposed a full trade and financial embargoes that penalizes non-U.S. banks, companies, and people that conduct business with North Korea. Sanctions, coupled with natural disasters, and a shortfall of food production, have contributed to the growing food shortage.

North Korea’s hunger crisis presents a unique conundrum: should sanctions imposed on a regime charged with violating human rights be lifted in order to deliver humanitarian aid?

References

David Tweed, What You Need to Know About North Korea and Sanctions: QuickTake, Bloomberg News (Feb. 25, 2019, 11:01 PM EST), available athttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-26/what-you-need-to-know-about-north-korea-and-sanctions-quicktake (last updated Mar. 14, 2019, 11:47 PM EDT).

Hyonhee Shin, As food crisis threatens, humanitarian aid for North Korea grinds to a halt,Reuters (Aug. 20, 2018, 1:10 PM), available at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-aid-insight/as-food-crisis-threatens-humanitarian-aid-for-north-korea-grinds-to-a-halt-idUSKCN1L529H.

Phil McCausland & Dan De Luce, Top North Korean official says his country faces major food shortages, blaming weather and sanctions, Nbc News (Feb. 19, 2019), available athttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/top-north-korean-official-says-his-country-faces-major-food-n973361.

Daniel Boffey, UN calls for food aid for starving North Koreans despite sanctions, The Guardian (Apr. 3, 2019), available athttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/03/un-calls-on-white-house-to-aid-north-korea-despite-standoff.