영하(零下)로 내려가는 추운 겨울입니다. 북한은 더 춥겠죠. 미국내 북한을 돕고자 하는 수많은 민간단체들이 경제제재 때문에 발이 묶여 있습니다. 안타까운 소식입니다. 건강하게, 공부 열심히 해주고, 꿈과 희망을 가지고 자라는 아이들을 보는 것보다 더 행복한 것은 없는 듯 합니다. 아이들의 꿈은 어른들의 생명입니다. 북한에 대한 경제 제제가 해제 되길 빕니다. 절망하지 않고 모든 운명을 감수(甘受)하고 사랑하여 반드시 평화롭고 통일된 대한민국을 건설합시다!
--시애틀에서 시몬천 드림
The United States is hampering humanitarian aid to North Korea
There is no such thing as the perfect family. Only by the daily exercise of forgiveness can a family grow. Pope Francis
Dear Friend,
It is freezing outside. Due to the sanctions against North Korea, this winter for people in North Korea is harsher than ever. Imagine a 90% oil cutoff were imposed on your community. There will be less light and electricity in households; a huge number of civilians would freeze to death; hospitals won't be able to take care of patients; children won't be able to go to school; mothers won't be able to deliver healthy babies.
It has been reported that the United States is hampering humanitarian aid to North Korea: “Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley devised the U.S. position and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo endorsed it, according to diplomatic sources. Pompeo is the driving force behind the U.S. maximum pressure campaign on North Korea.” One hopes that the report is not true and that the United States cherish the universal value of charity and respecting human dignity.
Please tell US Congress (Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, all of our esteemed and favorite members of Congress), diplomats at the State Department and President Trump that humanitarian aid should be separated from politics; it will win the hearts and minds of 80 millions people in two Koreas. Two Koreas will be allies and friends with America. That will be the best security and foreign policy of the United States.
As Pope Francis said, we can grow as a family through repeated practices of forgiveness, reconciliation and charity. Please help us!
FACTS: The United States is hampering humanitarian aid to North Korea
“In one instance, it took an NGO over a year and a half to ship 16 boxes of beans to the DPRK. The process took so long that the donor developed brain cancer and died in the time it took the Treasury Department to process the request.” American Friends Service Committee.Engaging North Korea. Vol. III: A toolkit for protecting humanitarian channels amid "maximum pressure" https://www.afsc.org/engaging-north-korea-iii
The increasing severity of the sanctions target the civilian economy in the DPRK and will have further negative impacts on human livelihood. Sanctions have a disproportionate effect on household economies, especially women who make up important labor force.
“Among the most vulnerable are women and children...Almost a third of all pregnant and lactating mothers and more than 200,000 children are estimated to suffer from severe acute malnutrition.”
“...sanctions may be adversely affecting the essential help” that UN agencies and aid groups were providing as a “life-line” for some 13 million vulnerable North Koreans.
Restricting import of oil hurt family hurt welfare of people: “...people will be forced to walk or not move at all, and to push buses instead of riding in them. There will be less light in households due to less kerosene, and less on-site power generation. There will be more deforestation to produce biomass and charcoal used in gasifiers to run trucks, leading to more erosion, floods, less food crops, and more famine. There will be less diesel fuel to pump water to irrigate rice paddies, to process crops into foodstuffs, to transport food and other household necessities, and to transport agricultural products to markets before they spoil.” https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-special-reports/sanctions-on-north-korean-oil-imports-impacts-and-efficacy/
1. Washington Wants Pyongyang to Choose: Humanitarian Aid or Nukes
The United States is hampering some aid groups from fighting tuberculosis and other diseases in North Korea. Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley devised the U.S. position and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo endorsed it, according to diplomatic sources. Pompeo is the driving force behind the U.S. maximum pressure campaign on North Korea.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/12/washington-wants-pyongyang-to-choose-humanitarian-aid-or-nukes/?utm_source=PostUp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7841&utm_term=Editor#39;s%20Picks%20OC
European perspective on America's blocking humanitarian aid to DPRK: “A diplomatic blunder”: “This is quite important. As the article indicates & per conversations in Europe, blocking of aid is pretty much the only instance in which European countries have been openly critical of Trump's policy towards North Korea. It's a diplomatic blunder, humanitarian concerns aside.”
https://twitter.com/rpachecopardo/status/1073150051541770240
2. US Deflects UN Request to Fund Humanitarian Aid for N. Korea
In October, a group of U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting him to "modify OFAC's sanctions regulations to allow timely delivery of humanitarian aid and other NGO engagement." OFAC is the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Controls, which administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries and regimes … The Trump administration has not responded to the letter, according to Daniel Jasper, the advocacy coordinator for Asia at American Friends Service Committee, which joined the groups in sending the letter…."The U.S. government does not currently provide humanitarian aid to [North Korea]," said Jasper. "We believe the U.S. should allow humanitarian U.S. NGOs to continue aid programs in [North Korea] immediately." https://www.voanews.com/a/us-deflects-un-request-to-fund-humanitarian-aid-for-north-korea/4697026.html
3. North Korea says sanctions are hurting women, children. REUTERS
“Such sanctions against humanity which block even the delivery of the medical equipment and medicines for maternal and child health and the basic goods for daily life including even children’s bicycles threaten the protection and promotion of our women’s rights and even the right to survival of the children.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-un-rights/north-korea-says-sanctions-hurting-women-children-idUSKBN1D82BG?il=0
4. North Korea tops list of world's most neglected humanitarian crises. The Guardian
“The deepening humanitarian emergency in North Korea is the least reported in the world,” according to a study by CARE-International that measured international media coverage of humanitarian crises around the globe....About 18 million people in North Korea, 70% of the population, are estimated to rely on government food aid, according to the UN. The situation deteriorated last summer, when the country suffered its worst drought since 2001. Very few aid agencies are able to operate in the country, and independent media and civil society organisations are also prohibited.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jan/23/north-korea-tops-list-most-neglected-humanitarian-crises
5. Kee Park. O-Ed. Hunger in North Korea Is Devastating. And It’s Our Fault. The New York Times
...as I have seen during my 16 visits to North Korea in the past decade — hunger remains a way of life there. Forty-one percent of North Koreans, about 10.5 million people, are undernourished, and 28 percent of children under 5 years old have stunted growth. When my 4-year-old daughter visited Pyongyang in 2013, she, all of three feet, towered over children twice her age...The hunger is devastating. And it’s our fault...We are trying to inflict pain on the North Korean regime to stop the development of nuclear weapons and missiles. That’s understandable. But in the process, we are also punishing the most vulnerable citizens and shackling the ability of humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to them….While we are playing, people starve. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/17/opinion/weapons-north-korea-hunger.html
A Year of Moon-led Diplomacy:
“Will the rest of the media cover the progress on the Korean Peninsula?”
6. [Interview] “US needs to put forward something symbolic”
David Kang of the Korean Studies Institute at USC says it’s time for the US to give ground
Kang: One option would be an end-of-war declaration, but there’s plenty that the US can do without losing face. The US has put limitations on humanitarian aid to North Korea, and it would be good to remove those. It could also lift the ban on travel to North Korea or ease enough sanctions to let the Kaesong Industrial Complex reopen. I’m not sure if Trump is ready to take those measures, but if I were advising him, I’d tell him he needs something to give North Korea….he US needs to give Kim something to work with so he can tell the North Korean hardliners, “See, we’re both taking one step at a time.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/873990.html
7. [Interview] South Korean church plans to build people’s hospitals in all North Korean cities and counties
Leader of S. Korean Christian community emphasizes reconciliation and conflict healing...Kim Jong-un should be “welcomed in accordance with diplomatic practice”...In a recent interview with one monthly, Lee voiced the opinion that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should be “welcomed in accordance with diplomatic practice” if he visits Seoul, just as South Korean President Moon Jae-in was welcomed in Pyongyang.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/874155.html
8. [INTERVIEW] NGOs 'better at solving some of North Korea's intractable problems'
"North Korean caregivers do all that they can and are very devoted to their TB patients ," he said. "Good TB treatment is a community effort. Instead of the Eugene Bell Foundation, donors who make voluntary contributions to make it possible for us to send medications should also get more recognition."https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/12/103_260324.html
9. [Herald Interview] Irish aid reaches most vulnerable with compassionate passion
The latter approach -- helping the world’s most vulnerable based on need -- has essentially been the strategy of Irish humanitarian aid and its largest aid and humanitarian agency, Concern Worldwide….Concern has operated in North Korea since 1998, working in food security, nutrition and water and sanitation services as well as strengthening the country’s disaster-risk reduction capacity. As one of five international NGOs in North Korea, Concern has 18 staff members working on projects in vulnerable areas, including Gangwon, North Hwanghae, South Hwanghae and South Pyongan provinces.
https://www.concern.net/where-we-work/asia/democratic-peoples-republic-korea
10. Dr Yoon Young-kwan North Korea’s Nuclear Problem: A More Pragmatic Approach Will Help. Institution for European Studies. Korea Chair. Policy Brief
Instead, it would be be more realistic for the U.S. to take North Korea’s suggestion of dismantling Yongbyon nuclear facilities while pushing the demand for North Korea’s declaration. This will make the real negotiation start and mark an important beginning of the long process of denuclearization. Some say that Yongbyon nuclear facilities are no longer valuable, which may not necessarily be the case. In addition to dismantling the biggest symbol of North Korea’s nuclear program, international inspectors will be able to get important information about the current state of plutonium, uranium enrichment, and hydrogen bomb projects. Another beneficial measure may be producing a declaration of the end of the Korean War.
https://www.korea-chair.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/KFVUB_Policy_Brief_2018-11.pdf
11. South and North Korea complete mutual inspection of demolished GPs in DMZ. Hankyoreh
South and North Korea complete mutual inspection of demolished GPs in DMZ...The mood of the inspections on Wednesday was reportedly so amicable that soldiers on the two sides offered each other cigarettes. The South Korean inspectors began by confirming that all firearms, equipment and troops had been removed from the North Korean GPs and that all aboveground facilities, including observation posts and pillboxes, had been dismantled. They also verified that underground facilities, including passageways, entrances and barriers, had been filled in and destroyed. http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/874292.html
13. Moon Jae-in: TIME person of the Year Runner Up
"Moon helped apply the brakes. Over the course of 2018, the South Korean leader has pursued measured engagement with North Korea while reassuring Washington that their alliance remains strong. Within a year of Moon-led diplomacy, Trump went from fire and fury to outright affection. After his June summit with Kim, Trump would later say of himself and the young dictator that "we fell in love."
http://time.com/person-of-the-year-2018-moon-jae-in-runner-up/
TEAR DOWN THIS WALL
A Korean peninsula without a war
Arirang News. [Digital News Arirang] North and South Korea soldiers cross into each other's territory peacefully for the first time [in 65 years],... to verify demolition of guard posts.
https://twitter.com/arirangtvnews/status/1073455099718987776
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