Food Crisis in North Korea
Franklin Graham and a delegation from Samaritan's Purse spent several days in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as part of a previously scheduled trip to meet senior officials about humanitarian needs including agricultural, medical, and food needs.
A major topic of the trip was the critical food shortages in the country. Mr. Graham visited a cooperative farm, where he presented North Korean farmers with more than 2,000 rolls of the agricultural plastic sheeting used for spring season seedbeds. He also talked with the farmers about the looming catastrophe.
"We were able to not only see the farms, we were able to see the farmers and talk to them about the problems they face," he told Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, who was on the trip. "It is a crisis."
Earlier this year, Samaritan's Purse was one of five aid groups that were allowed into the country to assess the need for food.
"About 6 million people are going to be affected with this food shortage," Mr. Graham told Van Susteren in an interview before the trip. "They had a terrible winter. The food stocks have dwindled to where they don't even have enough to get to the next growing season. There is going to be starvation, malnutrition, there will be death. People are supplementing by foraging for grass. They boil it and try to make a stew. They put tree bark and boil that in the water-anything for any kind of nourishment. The need is great."
North Korea is a closed country. Few visitors are allowed in. Although not much is known about the nation or its people, Mr. Graham called for compassion and understanding.
"It is important that we understand that these are people," he said. "They have families, children, loved ones. They want their children to have an education, a good job. They want to have peace. Yet, we know so little about them."
During his visit, the Samaritan's Purse president had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Pak Ui-Chun, Foreign Minister of the DPRK, and Mr. Kim Yong Dae, Vice President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.
Samaritan's Purse has worked in the DPRK for more than a decade. Last August, we responded to critical needs arising from severe flooding by airlifting some 90 tons of relief supplies to the nation from the US as well as equipping a school to train dozens of dentists each year and install generators to provide electricity to rural hospitals.
