Should We Aid North Korea - By Yongnam Kwon

            On the night of February the 21st, I opened my notebook to prepare for the debate that would be held the next day, under the motion of whether South Korea should have nuclear weapons. Our team was preparing for pro. Our team met in the cafeteria and started to research for reasons why it would be easier to negotiate with North Korea if we had our individual nukes. Though we weren't very passionate and interested towards the issue, we managed to find some firm evidence which could possibly lead our team to victory. They were that we were in a warfare with North Korea although there was an armistice that has been signed, and that we could actually demand certain things towards North Korea if we also had nuclear weapons.

              
Although we lost the debate, I found out that the time was apt to search more about aids given to North Korea, since my interest towards North Korean issues has reached its apex after a heated debate and learning diverse opinions towards the issue, and also because I was quite shocked of how apathetic I was towards issues related to a country so close to us. During my research, I found out an inconvenient truth: that the international society, including South Korea, were aiding North Korea blindly. When the international society was posing a "sunshine policy" towards the North, it meant that they would aid North Korea without terms. When we weren't, North Korea threatened us with its nuclear weapon development, and the society had no choice but to aid them. When negotiating, our country is led, rather than leading conversations with North Korea. Accordingly, I have found out that the international society is not suggesting fundamental solutions to relieve the stress related to poverty and starvation within North Korea, but is rather evading the situation, offering unconditional aid.

             One thing the international society should fix to solve poverty is to get direct information of where their aids have reached, in case it falls into the wrong hands. North Korea is a country that is excessively obsessed with its army; they never cut their spending on missile programs, even with the sacrifice of cutting food import. Until now, North Korea has never identified where the aids goes. The goal of aiding organizations is to feed and help the innocent; however, since North Korea never gives information of where the aids have reached, it sufficiently opens the possibility of aids strengthening the army. We must not forget that South Korea and North Korea are actually in a war state. North Korea has continuously sent spies to our country, has attacked our nation's territory, Yeonpyeong island, and also has destroyed our boat, the Cheon-An Ham. Considering this, the international society should be very careful when aiding a rogue enemy country such as North Korea, and if they are to send humanitarian aids, the aiding organizations should try to make negotiations, insisting that there will be no aids without clear, firm information of where their aids have reached.

             Moreover, the aiding organizations should acknowledge the fact that to reach their goal of helping the poor and innocent North Koreans, there is a certain limit that direct aiding can solve. The most certain way to help the North Koreans would be helping them to be able to self supply themselves. Studies have shown that even with North Korea's limited and infertile land, it has the ability to feed its own people. However, North Korea has failed to increase crop output for 15 years, and there has been severe starvation, severe enough to wipe out 5 percent of its population in one year. The reason was because of the North Korean government, which really does not seem to care much about their people, which constantly causes problems in distribution and uses their money on the wrong place. First, farmers are not getting enough rewards relative to their crop outputs. The farmers must get sufficient rewards for their output, since the farmers must use them to maintain livelihood and to improve their producing equipment.  However, for so many years, reward has been so small, and the incentive to produce more than others has diminished. Another reason North Korea failed to escape from poverty was because they are unaware of the greatest needs inside North Korea. The first problem is the shortage of farming technology. Many North Korean farmers are still using cows instead of farming equipment, and farmers of intense poverty don't even have cows to help their production. Additionally, the North Korean government is failing in managing various factors closely related to harvest. One example would be the North Korean government failing to manage the water supply. Sometimes, floods or droughts wiped out one year of harvest. Because of lack of technology, even with North Korea's sufficient land to self supply itself, North Korea could not reach its highest potential of production. Another problem is that they put their priorities not in the well being of the people, but in the maintenance on their single party dictatorship. Even when there were severe starvations, the government refused to cut their spending on missile programs and luxuries, but instead cut their food import by 40 percent. This fact becomes more astonishing if we know that if the North Korean government halts to spend money on missile programs, there will be no starvation inside North Korea, which directly shows how much the North Korean government is unconcerned of their people. Aiding such a country in humanitarian terms might not be the wisest answer the international society can make.

             By this opportunity, I could find out two things. One is that the international society should think twice before aiding a country such as North Korea, and that they should search for solutions that could truly end the poverty of North Korea. Two is that we, including South Koreans, are seriously indifferent and ignorant, even though it is the issue of our "enemy brother". With more interest and a better approach, there will be a solution to this problem.