Site Search:
 
Speak Korean Now!
Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!
Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

New food crisis imminent for North Korea

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Current Events Forum
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Alias



Joined: 24 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 7:51 am    Post subject: New food crisis imminent for North Korea Reply with quote

Quote:
The United Nations says a combination of rising food prices and scarce international aid threatens to cause another serious food shortage in North Korea.

According to the UN World Food Program, international aid agencies in North Korea are running short of food and as a result people are being forced to eat acorns and grass.

Gerald Bourke of the WFP called the shortages "acute."

"We don't have enough food. We seek and continue to seek to impress upon donors the dire needs of millions of very many women, children and elderly people in North Korea," he said.

About one in three North Koreans are chronically malnourished and the increasing price of food staples, according to the UN, is skyrocketing.

"The price of rice, over the past 12 months, has gone up three-fold," said Bourke, "the price of corn has gone up four-fold. So food in the markets is beyond the reach of very many people."

The Stalinist country has relied on foreign aid since mid-1990s when its farm system collapsed following decades of mismanagement and the loss of Soviet subsidies.


North Korean Food Crisis

Of course this is all just imperialist propaganda. Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
VanIslander



Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:29 am    Post subject: Re: New food crisis imminent for North Korea Reply with quote

Alias wrote:
...The price of rice, over the past 12 months, has gone up three-fold," said Bourke, "the price of corn has gone up four-fold. So food in the markets is beyond the reach of very many people."

[b]The Stalinist country...

Some communist country: market forces making people starve. Neither Stalin nor Marx would claim responsibility for such a socio-political economy.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If true, this could explain why the Norks agreed to return to the 6 party talks at this time.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Alias



Joined: 24 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya-ta Boy wrote:
If true, this could explain why the Norks agreed to return to the 6 party talks at this time.


Yes it does. I wonder what they plan on getting out of it?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I wonder what they plan on getting out of it?




My guess is they want to re-create the golden days of the Cold War when they had both China and the Soviet Union competing to give them stuff--how that ever fit the philosophy of self-reliance, I'll never understand--but this time with the US playing the role of the SU.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Naruto



Joined: 07 Jul 2005
Location: Irvine, CA

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah someday they'll make a machine able to convert plutonium into rice...then the N. Koreans shall rule the world!!! (along with Chinese)

But yeah. S. Korea is already sending them 500,000 tons of rice aren't they? Damn moochers. We send them food, they wanna nuke the world. Good exchange!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
Derrek



Joined: 15 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Naruto wrote:
Yeah someday they'll make a machine able to convert plutonium into rice...then the N. Koreans shall rule the world!!! (along with Chinese)

But yeah. S. Korea is already sending them 500,000 tons of rice aren't they? Damn moochers. We send them food, they wanna nuke the world. Good exchange!


As someone else posted on here, the South Koreans have a dual agenda. Young children are now taught in schools that the two Koreas much join together to form a unified Korea, if they ever want to have a chance of becoming a superpower. Koreans are jingoistically proud, and buy into this hook, line, and sinker. The problem is that they think North Korea will just join up with whatever future they plan, regardless of their now very, very different communist culture.

The USA should most definately get out of here -- and fast. The US will be made into the enemy while 30 million Koreans mastrubate to nationalistic pride for about a year or two after reunification. Then, after the honeymoon is over, gifts of aid are given, and the South Korean "haves" start to become their normal greedy Korean selves, this peninsula will again erupt in chaos.

The original war began because the Northeners were sick of exploitation from the South, and saw the Communist way as a way to strengthen the country for everyone. We know Communisim to be a great failure, but the underlying cultural issues that started the war are, like a dormant virus, ready to revive and grow again. Just look at the Chaebols and certain South Koreans, desperate to manuver for "rights" to this or that in North Korea under the guise of offering aid. Many a South Korean company see the reunification as a dream way to increase market share and customer base. Rich people who already own 85%+ of the land here are salivating at the chance to buy land up there, and make a profit.

Many North Koreans will become millionaires overnight (the remainder of KJI's gov't) but the poor won't be appeased by food aid for long. Many will look around, become jealous of everything everyone else "has", and there will be a lot of problems to overcome.

The US is best off having a big, friendly ceremony right now praising South Korea's strength, and blowing sunshine up their ass in 10,000 ways, but bowing the hell out of here in the name of peace and reunification. Make that the reason why we want to leave, and perhaps we won't be demonized by this culture, who will seek to blame the US for the entire SK/NK war.

All you have to do is look around and see the many ways in which foreigners are blamed for Korea's ills, and then you can see the future of the USA in Korea.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 5:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
The original war began because the Northeners were sick of exploitation from the South,



Could you explain this?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
joe_doufu



Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya-ta Boy wrote:
Quote:
The original war began because the Northeners were sick of exploitation from the South,

Could you explain this?

I only read a few synopses of Korean history before arriving, but apparently the North has always gotten the short end of the stick, economically and socially, from most of the Korean dynasties. They have always been the poorest part of Korea and often were governed from afar by southern capitals. It may not have been "expoitation", just having fewer natural resources could explain it, but whatever the reason the North was poor and resented the South because of it. Hence communism.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Hence communism.



Conversely, I would say Soviet occupation in 1945, hence communism.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
thekingofdisco



Joined: 29 Oct 2004

PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
ust having fewer natural resources could explain it


South Korea has zero natural resources; whereas the North has quite a bit. So i guess this point wouldn't explain it. Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Current Events Forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

TEFL International Supports Dave's ESL Cafe
TEFL Courses, TESOL Course, English Teaching Jobs - TEFL International