Over at It Makes A Difference to the Sheep, Kirk discusses the recently released Paved with Good Intentions, edited by Gordon Flake and Scott Snyder, a book that examines the experiences of NGOs working up in North Korea. This is obviously a must get next time I visit Seoul’s Kyobo Book Store. Anyway, you’re highly encouraged to check out Kirk’s post - here’s (slightly more than) a snippet:
The general tenor of the authors/editors was fairly pessimistic. The DPRK had, for the most part, managed to insist on controlling the process of humanitarian aid, had managed to resist calls for increased monitoring of where the aid actually goes, and had shown a short-sighted but perhaps politically expedient preference for direct food aid rather than long-term development projects. No “teach a man to fish” ethos apparent here. Moreover, donor fatigue has set in and large numbers of NGO’s have reduced or eliminated their operations in North Korea. The fact that North Korea can’t seem to cooperate with well intentioned non-governmental groups in the vital task of providing food for its starving citizens and was unwilling to allow monitoring of where the food went does not bode well for the prospects of a deal on the nuclear issue any time soon. If North Korea can’t trust outsiders to simply observe where food aid goes, why should we think that they will willingly open up sensitive defense-related operations to full inspection and monitoring.
Now go read the rest.
(Hat tip to Big Ho)
