1997 - Revisited

An Outsider Looking In
by Chris Gelken

The way it is

North Korea - Does the West
really give a damn?
December 26th, 1997 -- Hong Kong (APJP) -- Three days of talks in Beijing and officials from the Red Cross Societies of North and South Korea agree on how much food-aid will be sent to the starving millions in the next couple of months. But there's a problem. There've been numerous reports that food aid is being diverted away from hungry kids and is being distributed to the ruling classes and the military. The donors want to monitor distribution, North Korea says no.

Now there are North Korean Boat People

So the two sides continue to bicker as kids die. The two sides bicker as Pyongyang keeps up its stilted and out-dated anti-Western rhetoric. My first instinct is to say screw them. Let them starve. But it is Christmas and that wouldn't be a very charitable attitude to take.

It reminds me of a time just after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Yes, I was old enough to be there, serving Queen and country. Well, there were thousands of Greek-Cypriot refugees streaming down from the pan-handle and across the Dhekelia Sovereign Base Road. Standing behind us and some fuzzy bearded Scandinavian UN 'peacekeepers' they thought they'd be quite safe from the nasty Turk.

There was a case when a British Army convoy of trucks arrived at one refugee holding point, loaded with food, tents, blankets and all manner of basic stuff. Courtesy of the British taxpayer, thank you very much. A Major in charge of the convoy calls over to some strapping Greek chaps and says "Okay, here it is, its yours, let's get if off the trucks, shall we?"

This rice, from Vietnam may be destined
for A North Korean soldier's belly. But it
was sent for the children.
The refugees went into a huddle and a spokesman emerged with the demand that they be paid - I can't remember how much - to unload the stuff. The Major was outraged. He apparently used some very colourful language and ordered the trucks turned around and back to barracks. There was almost a riot. In the end the refugees agreed to unload the trucks for free.

I doubt that the Major really intended to take the food back to storage. He was faced with a situation and I think he handled it quite well. He called their bluff. Unfortunately, it wasn't terribly diplomatic and I heard that the Major had his tour of duty cut short and he was returned to his regiment in Europe. Remember, though, his quick thinking meant that the refugee kids (who weren't involved in the negotiation process, the invasion, or the stupid politics that led to it) got a good feed that night. The adult Greek men lost face, their macho pride was hurt. So what?

A proud North Korean mother

grieving for her starving child.

This tactic probably won't work with the North Koreans. They are stupid and stubborn enough to let the people starve. After all, the people doing the negotiating, and the folks giving the orders to the people doing the negotiating are fed well enough.

I have to ask, though - has anyone seriously tried calling their bluff? They are fond enough of sabre-rattling, why doesn't the West do a bit of sabre-rattling itself. I have heard often enough that the country is on the brink of collapse, their military while large is outdated and badly trained. They can goose-step on parades but not much else worth talking about. They have nukes - but delivery system? According to one analyst I heard a couple of years ago, the North Koreans would have to drive them across the border and kick them off the back of flat-bed trucks. North Korea would be a walk-over for a Super-Power, eh?

Nah, perhaps going to war to liberate the oppressed and hungry masses, clashing head-to-head with an army that WOULD fight back isn't something Western governments would like to contemplate. Besides, China wouldn't like it. And we mustn't upset Beijing, must we? Ah, but then again, the West really doesn't give a damn about starving kids. You only have to look at Iraq to see that. The masquerade there continues while children die in droves as a direct result of UN sanctions. Even the UN has come clean and says the sanctions are having a seriously negative impact on those who really have no power to grant inspectors access to the palaces.

So, the posturing will continue.

And the kids will continue die.

I guess that's the way of the World.