DPRK / AMOS WRAP

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos told journalists after a five-day visit to the DPRK this week that the country remains "highly food insecure," with daily rations recently reduced, unreliable food supplies, restricted agricultural production and many children left stunted. OCHA

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:02
• Production Date: 21 October 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: POLITICAL CONDITIONS; POLITICAL MOVEMENTS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
• MAMS Id: U111021c

Description

STORY: DPRK / AMOS
TRT: 2:02
SOURCE: OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 20 OCTOBER 2011, PYONGYANG, HAMHUNG, DPRK

Shotlist

1. Various shots, USG Valerie Amos meets with the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“I came to North Korea to look at the foot security situation and particularly to have a look at what is happening to children and to women who are breastfeeding, because malnutrition is increasing.”
3. Various shots, USG Valerie Amos visiting a number of UN-supported projects in Hamhung City including a provincial pediatric hospital, boarding school, medical warehouse and baby home
4. Various shots, USG Valerie Amos participates in a home visit in Munchon county, DPRK
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
People are malnourished. I visited an orphanage, a baby home, I went to a hospital and saw women who had just given birth. I went to a pediatric ward in hospital and saw children who where being treated for malnutrition. This is a country of chronic poverty and underdevelopment. There is no way with the best will in the world and even in the best climatic conditions that North Korea, DPRK, can feed itself.”
6. Various shot, boarding school and baby home in Hamhung City, DPRK

Storyline

More than 6 million people urgently need food assistance in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos has warned, after a landmark five-day visit to the crisis-hit country.

"Recent figures for children under five years of age show chronic malnutrition levels at 33 per cent nation-wide, and 45 per cent in the north of the country," she said in a statement at the end of her mission.

Rations provided via the country's Public Distribution System fell from 400 grams per person per day in March 2011 to around 200 grams per person per day in July, and have stayed around that level since then, further deepening the hardship experienced by ordinary people in the DPRK.

People are having to survive on maize, rice if they are lucky, and cabbage, leading to the high levels of malnutrition, particularly among children.

Ms Amos met with DPRK government officials, UN agencies, NGOs, donors, and members of the diplomatic community in Pyongyang, and spent two days on a field visit to South Hamgyong and Kangwon provinces to see some of the challenges on the ground.

During a series of visits to hospitals, an orphanage, a communal farm and a local market, she spoke with health workers, mothers, local officials, aid officials, and visited a family being assisted by World Food Programme. Ms Amos also visited a public distribution centre, a biscuit factory, and a medical warehouse.

She was granted access to all the places that she had asked to see, including a surprisingly vibrant market and a public distribution centre in Wonsan - neither of which are usually freely accessible to humanitarian agencies in the country.

Ms Amos noted that "during site visits, I saw for myself the positive impact of the limited humanitarian assistance being provided by the UN and its partners. Allowing all humanitarian agencies, not just WFP, access to markets, random access to homes and institutions, 24 hour notice of monitoring visits and the employment of Korean-speakers on their staff should be the rule rather than the exception."

Ms Amos said the most vulnerable people in North Korea were victims of a situation over which they had no control. "For this reason, we are not in a position to turn our backs on these people, despite the many difficulties."