Collapsed bridge in Unpa County, North Hwanghae Province, North Korea.
By Bernard Krisher
The devastating floods which hit North Korea in July and August
caused severe damage to crops and left 500,000 homeless. The
disaster provided a dramatic insight into the ability of the North Koreans,
nurtured on 'juche' (self reliance), to cope with a difficult natural
calamity, testing their organizational and reconstruction skills. It also
measured their sensibility.
The Koreans reacted pragmatically. They have been able in
little time to impressively rebuild homes, schools and re-erect
disrupted electrical lines to even the most remote villages. But they
also realistically appealed to the world community for assistance in
providing material donations such as rice, clothing, drugs and
construction equipment which they were unable to provide on their
own. They were not ready to sacrifice the well-being of their people
by being too proud to reject foreign assistance when any nation in a
similar predicament caused by a natural disaster willingly welcomes
such aid.
The food reserves in North Korea are now critical. Village
warehouse supplies throughout the disaster areas, according to UNDP
officials in Pyongyang, are down to only one to four weeks' reserves.
If the World Food Program (WFP) emergency shipment had not
arrived on November 23, which will keep the 500,000 flood victims
fed for 90 days, there could have been a famine in December.
Top officials from the Flood Rehabilitation Committee down to
county representatives who guided us to the disaster areas and the
farmers themselves who received our gifts, frequently expressed
their gratitude in a dignified way and seemed equally appreciative
to the UN agencies, CARITAS, International Aid (an American NGO)
and Medecins sans Frontieres, which were providing aid. When I
handed over our packets of clothing, each recipient bowed and
voiced a 'kamsahamnida' (thank you). Before I left North Korea, the
Flood Rehabilitation Committee also handed me individual letters of
gratitude for transmittal to generous donors such as The Nippon
(Sasakawa Foundation), and those who helped our campaign
generously including Toshu Fukami (president of Worldmate), Ronald
Winston (president of Harry Winston), Hope Worldwide--Japan and
Hope Worldwide--South Korea, both humanitarian Christian
organizations, which had been moved by the Internet appeal. The
personally signed letters by Chong Yun Hyong (director for External
Affairs of the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee) stated:
"I express my gratitude to you for your humanitarian
donations sent by Mr. Bernard Krisher, Chairman of the 'American
Assistance to Cambodia & Japan Relief to Cambodia' concerning our
flood damage. Acknowledging the receipt of the donations, I inform
you that Mr. Bernard Krisher visited the disaster areas of Rinsan and
Unpa counties of North Hwanghae Province and Sinuiju City of North
Pyongan Province and personally handed them over to the people of
those areas during his visit to our country. I express my
expectation that you pay attention to the humanitarian work of this
kind in the future too. Sincerely yours..."
The incidents which had soured the Japanese public (when a
North Korean official reportedly said their rice donations were
offered by Japan to atone for their pre-war mistreatment of Koreans)
and the South Korean experience of having to fly a North Korean flag
on one of their donation ships while unloading rice, were not known
to the Koreans we encountered and in my view, should not have
been taken at face value. It was not something the North Koreans
intentionally programmed to insult the donors. They were flukes but
at the same time the North Korean are proud and do not wish to
appear to be begging for donations. It was probably difficult to
apologize but it is unlikely to happen again. Both Japan and South
Korea should act mangnanimously and take into consideration the
suffering of the flood victims.
It should not be lost on Pyongyang watchers that North Korea was
ready for the first time to accept the increased presence of such
international institutions as the UNDP, which already had an office in
Pyongyang, with more personnel and the additional participation of
the UN's Department of Humanitarian Assistance (DHA), The
International Red Cross, the World Health Organization (WHO), the
World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF and the private NGO, Medecins
sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) which came in with a
pledge of $1 million in medical supplies and in turn was allowed to
station two-to-three person teams of doctors and nurses in three of
the disaster areas. Their presence allows the verification of
distribution of donated drugs, food and clothing, necessary to
eliciting more supplies from the world community.
The direct participation in the reconstruction by these
agencies is limited and their representatives are sometimes
frustrated by their "isolation in splendor," in contrast to living in the
field and operating independently in a less inhibiting environment
like Somalia and Bosnia where many were posted before, the
foreigners would prefer to be able to move about more freely while
the North Koreans are not yet ready to provide full freedom of
movement and unrestricted activity to foreigners they don't know
too well. If the representatives of the international agencies meet
the test of trust other long-term foreigners have earned, such as Ludo
Drijbooms, a long-time Belgian resident who operates a joint
venture diamond polishing factory in Pyongyang and has lived
there for seven years, they would be given such rights as the
authority to drive their own minibus about freely without an
escort, multiple entry visas and practically as much freedom as a
high-level Korean is allowed, and perhaps a little more.
There are no second-hand shops in North Korea. The first surge
of donations by North Koreans to their fellow-countrymen who lost
their possessions in the floods was characterized by families
emptying their drawers where costly clothing and kitchen utensils had
been stored for the future marriages of their children and sending them
to flood areas.
My general impression of the situation in North Korea was that it is
safe to donate but personal verification, which the North Koreans
allow, as in my case, is always preferable and gives the donors a greater
sense of reliability. The flood victims are regarded as heroes and the
better-off urban North Koreans continue to sacrifice and purchase clothes
and household necessities for them. The quite remarkable skill in
organization I observed which is a quality of a regime such as North
Korea's, also allows for little pilferage in a situation of this nature. I
noted all our boxes and their contents were faithfully recorded down to the
individual donations which were listed in charts drawn up by local
officials and the recipients signed a paper on receiving a donation.
Finally the rules are strict in North Korea and one could risk one's
position, even one's life if caught stealing food or goods intended for
these flood victims. It would be a betrayal of a trust. North Korean
society is a combination of socialism and Confucianism. The latter
influence seems much stronger in the North than in contemporary
South Korea where Western values have sunk in.
My discussions with the representatives of all the
international organizations and my own observations confirmed that
housing and clothing were problems the North Koreans themselves
had handled well and these are no longer matters of serious concern.
The food shortages which began before the floods but have been
exacerbated by them remain critical. After the WFP emergency
shipment of rice on November 23rd--which will adequately feed the
500,000 flood victims for only 90 days-- expires and if a new
shipment or donations from relief organizations do not meet the
need, there will be a serious crisis.
No one is certain if more donations are coming. The South Korean
and Japanese governments so far have sat back. The United States has
not allowed the WFP to use its pledges for North Korea. It has even
blocked our modest bank account in Washington that is receiving
humanitarian donations for the flood victims. I was unable to
withdraw the donations to buy powdered milk prior to my trip and
the bank, on the Treasury Department's orders will not tell me how
much has been donated or from whom. We are therefore requesting
donors to no longer wire money to the U.S. account but instead to the
account in the Sumitomo Bank in Hiroo.
Our Internet Appeal for North Korean Flood Victims will now
focus on cash donations with which we would purchase rice (through WFP
or a North Korean commercial supplier), cloth, shoes, and warm
winter zippered jackets (in China or North Korea).
In graphic terms:
A $5,000 donation will purchase 20 tons of rice and feed 1500
persons for 1 month.
A $1,000 donation will purchase four tons of rice and feed 300
persons for 1 month.
A $250 donation will purchase a ton of rice which can feed 75
persons for 1 month.
A $130 donation will purchase 100 meters of blue-gray cloth
preferred by Koreans.
A $60 donation will buy four winter jackets.
A $35 donation will buy around 5,000 grams of Morinaga or
Nestle powdered milk for infants (in ChinaQ-which is more than three times
cheaper than Japan)
A $15 donation will buy 3 to 4 pairs of warm, water resistant
canvas shoes.
A $15 donation will also buy 4,000 grams of regular powdered
milk.
I plan to return to North Korea in January or February if sufficient
donations are made and to verify the distribution of donations as on this
trip.
I was moved, on the evening of our departure from Sinuiju by
bus to China over the Yalu River bridge when Mr. Pak Song Gyun, a
senior member of the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee, who
traveled with us during our stay, said that in Korea there was saying
a "true friend was someone who helps a person in difficulty" (a
friend in need is a a friend indeed) and therefore we were "really
good friends." I was gratified that by shedding some sunshine on the
flood victims we were blessed with an abundance of sunshine in
return.
November 3, 1995
Bernard Krisher, the chairman of the Internet Appeal for North Korean Flood Victims, will take the donations we have received so far on a North Korean ship which leaves Niigata (Japan) to Wonson (North Korea) on November 11. He will deliver these offering s on your behalf to the devastated areas where 500,000 persons are reported homeless. The donations include some 500 boxes of clean, used winter clothes, blankets, and daily necessities. The Hotel Okura, for example, donated 100 blankets. Cash donations h ave exceeded $10,000 with which powdered milk was purchased, to be given to children suffering from malnutrition.
Further cash donations are welcome so that more powdered milk and also instant rahmen may be purchased. Please contact Bernard Krisher at--
bernie@media.mit.edu or phone in Japan to +81-3-3486-4337 for info.
A report of the trip and donations will appear on this Home Page after his return.
FIRST REPORT
PYONGYANG, THURSDAY, NOV. 16
We lunched with Mr. Kim Sok Chol (my guide on two previous trips) and Mr. Park (of the Flood Committee) at the Ansan Restaurant. We are trying different restaurants for every meal. In the afternoon we visited the Cambodian Embassy and had a pleasa nt chat with the Ambassador. I eyed a great deal of empty space and may ask the Ambassador if he will let us use some of it for incoming donation storage. Later we visited the UN offices in the diplomatic compound and received briefings from the reps of D HA, UNDP and WFP. WFP is bringing in a ship of food sufficient to feed 500,000 homeless people for 90 days. WFP has pledges of food from many countries but some of these require prior approval for distribution from the donors. Only food aid pledged by the Scandinavian countries and Holland is untied. Many donor countries exclude North Korea from such aid which makes distribution here more difficult. Some areas reportedly only have sufficient food for one more week but the WFP shipments should arrive just in time.
In the evening we met with Ralph Plumb, President of International AID of Spring Lake, Michigan; Steve Linton of World Vision, and Dr. Herve Isambert, the representative of Medicins Sans Frontieres to compare information on shipping and distributi on. We are waiting for our ship to arrive so we can begin our distribution.
SECOND REPORT
PYONGYANG, THURSDAY, NOV. 19
The ship, the Mangyongbong, carrying our donations, finally arrived, after a two-day delay, caused by a storm, at Wonsan Port. Joseph and I, accompanied by our guides, drove to the port, had a good lunch of bulgogi at a seaside restaurant and then watched the ship sail into the harbor. About fifty passengers got off including relatives of some citizens who had tearful reunions. Many boxes were unloaded, but since ours were far back we had to wait until Sat urday morning (yesterday) to watch them come off. Drivers operating two forklifts shuttled our cargo out of the ship onto the dock. It was exciting to watch all the donation boxes of clothes, blankets and the $15,000 worth of powdered milk standing on the dock -- 1690 boxes in all.
All were labeled, "INTERNET CAMPAIGN FOR N. KOREAN FLOOD VICTIMS" and consigned to "BERNARD KRISHER." An officer from the Flood Committee of Wonsan City and the forklift operators warmly shook our hands to convey their gratitude for our concern to the flood victims. Everyone we have met on this trip expressed the same feeling. There was no customs inspection nor any formalities. While we returned to Pyongyang, the boxes were also trucked here and are being opened and re-assembled into categories o f sweaters, pants, suits, blankets, etc.
This afternoon and over the next few days we will visit the worst-hit areas and personally distribute these goods plus 1,000 shoes we bought and which we will directly distribute the donations to the flood victims.
Last month I sent a letter to Benetton asking their cooperation in setting up warm winter clothing collection centers throughout Europe which would be delivered by train from Paris via Moscow and China to Pyongyang. Benetton has replied positively and we will give you more details later.
PYONGYANG, 11/20/95
Our donations were loaded onto nine trucks and arrived in Pyongyang from Wonsan at 3 A.M. Sunday morning and taken to a warehouse. There ten diligent women worked all day opening the boxes and reassorting the clothes into categories of sweaters, shirts, suits, coats, etc. I discovered my own ski suit which my wife had packed and donated without my knowledge but I was glad to see it among the piles of warm winter clothes. This morning we will visit the first flood-affected area -- Unpa, and distri buted some of the goods. We will visit tow or three more areas in the next few days. The folks here are very cooperative.
Saturday we visited the Pyongyang Information Center, a very interesting complex where we met with a team that developed a multilingual desktop publishing software, "Tangun," saw a computer shop and learned while North Korea had not yet linked to the Internet, it has a domestic internet system. The ability of the local computer experts is impressive. I also learned that we can buy one ton of rice through the (UN) World Food Program Rep. for $230 here, enough to feed 75 people for one month. A nice Christmas gift.
FOURTH REPORT
PYONGYANG, 11/21/95
Accompanied by two trucks carrying around 300 boxes of clothing, blankets and powdered milk, we left early yesterday to two areas southwest of Pyongyang, Unpa and Rinsan counties, to visit villages devastated by the floods and directly deliver our donations to the victims. Along the way at the hotel in Unpa, where we stopped for a rest, we met and talked with two "Medecins Sans Frontieres" (Doctors without Borders) volunteers, a doctor and nurse, Marie Noelle and Laurence Morat, working in the are a. They are donating and administering "WHO" health kits. Traditional and Western drug manufacturing factories in the area were destroyed in the floods and there is a severe shortage of drugs.
We drove all day through bumpy narrow dirt roads passing miles of destroyed rice paddies and had to maneuver our vehicle over water as a bridge above was destroyed by the floods. We walked through an area of destroyed homes -- just stones and ti le on the ground -- and only the foundation of once a three-story school left.
At Taechang ri (village) in Sochang dong, Unpa County and a two-hour drive later at Sangwol ri, Rinsan County (120 kilometers southwest of Pyongyang) we personally handed our donations, individually to 91 and 57 villagers who expressed their thank s. Our photos will appear on the home page next week. Joseph also took moving videos of the whole day's events. We visited the homes of some of the victims and freely and frankly discussed their plight. After the flood they lived in temporary housing but new homes have been built for many. Their spirit is good. Food supply in many of the devastated areas, compounded by earlier crop failures is seriously low. In Sangwol ri the rice reserve for the inhabitants is only 30 days. Donations are needed to keep the people fed.
FIFTH REPORT
PYONGYANG, WEDNESDAY, 11/22/95
We are leaving by train this morning for Sinuiju, the worst-hit area, where the Yalu River, bordering Cina, reduced vast areas of rice paddies to salty sand. Our train will leave at 11:50 a.m. and we will reach the border city of Sinuiju at 4. Tom orrow we are to distribute our donations in the area.
Yesterday we were scheduled to visit Huichon, an industrial city (and neighboring rural areas) which was heavily damaged by floods. In the city itself hundreds of homes were washed away but new ones now house the homeless, according to Dr. Herve I sambert, the Medicins Sans Frontieres representative. Bad roads and the fact that the truck carrying our donations could not make it in time caused a cancellation of this trip. The flood committee guaranteed they would donate the goods we prepared in our place. Instead we shopped around locally for items which could b e given to flood victims that can be procured locally. We negotiated prices for possible future purchases, such as $250 for one ton of rice that co uld feed 75 people for a month which we could distribute through our direct supervision/verification or delegate the representative of WPF (World Food Program) on our behalf.
We also purchased a high quantity canvas shoe (1,800 pairs) at $4.50 each, some of which we distributed in Unpa and the rest will be distributed in Sinuiju tomorrow. We had discussions with Mr. On Yun Sik, President of the Fourth Company of the Ko rean Ponghwa General Corp., shoe and garment manufacturers, who could provide us quantities of warm winter parkas for $14.50, blankets for $15.00, padded peasant shoes for $3.80 a pair, warm top and bottom knitted cotton suits for children for $3.00. Afte r returning to Tokyo we would like to launch a thanksgiving-Christmas campaign.
We informed the flood committee and village representatives here of the very generous financial support given to the flood victims by the Nippon (Sasagawa) Foundation; Mr. Seizon Fukami, President of World Mate and Bishiken; Worldwide Hope-Korea; Worldwide Hope-Japan; and Mr. Ronard Winston, President of Harry Winston, Inc; as well as all of you who donated clothes, blankets, and deposited cash into our bank accounts.
The only unhappy hurdle were the contributions made by generous donors, to purchase powdered milk for children, to our Washington bank account. These funds have been blocked by the U.S. Treasury Department without informing me. Such an action go es against our American tradition of humanitarianism.
Another problem brought to my attention by Dr. Isambert (of MSF) is the fact that the county hospital in Huichon is unheated (the boiler was wrecked by the floods) and a replacement is urgently needed before the cold winter sets in. An MSF volunte er pediatrician works there alongside Korean doctors. I also would like to support this hospital.
SIXTH REPORT
SINUIJU, North Korea, Thursday, 11/23/95
We arrived at the border area (with China) by four-hour express train from Pyongyang yesterday and spent most of today visiting the most devastated areas hit by the August floods. Inhabitants told us the torrential rains and overflowing water from the Yalu River reached to nearly the ceiling of the homes. The flood affected 330,000 people in the areas around the city. 1,658 acres of farmland (6,713 chongbo out of the total 9,197 chongbo of cultivated land) was damaged, of which one half were paddy fields. 18,165 families lost their homes but most by now have moved into newly built houses. We saw many houses which will be completed in several days and families are already living in one room. These are simple, identical two rooms plus kitchen homes. All have electricity, photos of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on the walls and black-and-white TV sets. The rice rations, since the floods hit the region, has been reduced by 50% per family, but families still eat three meals a day. Some nodded when I aske d if they were hungry but were not despondent. Children seemed healthy and parents apparently are giving priority to them. The ration has been reduced from 340 kilograms of rice a year per person to 150 kilograms, or less than one farmwife told me.
In the region, according to Li Gye Hyok, a member of the local Flood Rehabilitation Committee, who guided us, 40 schools were destroyed; 69,303 livestock lost; 169 water pumps and 44 bridges damaged and 38,100 tons of rice in storage lost. The ric e warehouse for villages we visited were nearly empty. We were told, no one, however, perished but the population actively increased, as 14 mothers gave birth during the disaster. Reconstruction was impressive but it will take some time for some of the la nd to become arable again. Today we donated clothes, many given by members of Mr. Toshu Fukami's
World Mate Group, and powdered milk purchased from generous cash donations of Worldwide Hope-Korea, Worldwide Hope-Japan, Mr. Ronard Winson (of Harry Winston) and other donors throughout the world to inhabitants of Hasan Village. We personally handed the m to about 50 residents -- old men, farmwives and students -- who were chosen as representatives of families most severely affected by the floods. I personally gave them shoes, clothes, shirts and each warmly thanked me with a kamsahamnida. I handed over boxes of Wyeth-Eisai powdered milk formula and explained the usage instructions to a doctor and head of the regional nursery. They deeply appreciated the donation and said it would help reinforce nutrition needs among some children.
We also visited one farm family in their home and interviewed the farmwife at length on video. Joseph took about ten two-hour videos on this trip and everything is well-documented on our Sony handycam-TV quality!
On the way we saw a section where the overflow from the Yalu River had created a permanent natural dam.
We also passed miles of sandy terrain, once arable farmland at Sangdan ri (village) which may never be fertile again. It will require costly construction machinery (now unavailable) to clear the sand.
In late afternoon we crossed the border into Dandong on the Chinese side by bus. Perhaps the first time Westerners were allowed to take this route.