(By guest blogger, Andy Jackson)
Yet another reason to love Oz:
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Australia will not give more aid to North Korea until it dismantles its nuclear programs…
North Korea says it no longer needs humanitarian help and has instead asked aid donors to provide development projects.
The United Nations World Food Program will leave the country by the end of this year.
Mr Downer says the consequences of the new policy will be catastrophic and will cost lives.
Please note that the Aussies are refusing to give development aid until it stops its nuclear programs. It is Pyongyang that is cutting off humanitarian aid. Also, please note the ’s’ in ‘programs.’
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One Comment
So Mr. Downer is promising development assistance from Australia, is he? ‘Just give up your nukes and we’ll give it to you.’ Well I do not believe that the international community’s track record of providing effective development assistance to the third world is all that good — just look at Africa! I think it is important to note that since 1991, foreign aid from OECD countries to the developing world has steadily decreased. Leaders in Pyongyang are no doubt aware of this reality.
They are undoubtedly also aware of the 1998 World Bank report on foreign aid’s effect on poverty reduction within the developing world. According to the report, financial aid works in a good policy environment and should complement private investment. The report further states that development projects should strengthen institutions and policies so that services can be effectively delivered. An active civil society in the aid-recipient country is also mentioned as an important means to improve public services. Lastly, patience and a refocusing of aid away from money and on ideas are cited as better means to stimulate reform in distorted (political) environments. Considering that Pyongyang itself must realize that we see the DPRK as a country with a poor policy environment, limited potential for foreign investment, an unquestionably “distorted” socio-political environment, and no civil society, I cannot see how promises of development assistance can be believed by Pyongyang at this point.
And frankly, I’m not convinced the Kim regime can be persuaded to give up its nuclear card as it is the only leverage it has. Besides, if the report by David L. Asher (Senior Adviser for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State) about North Korea’s trans-national criminal activity is true — and I’m sure it’s not all fiction — and if the human rights violations are still going on in the country — which anecdotal evidence and video footage strongly suggests is — then I would think Mr. Downer would have to demand more from the Kim regime. What I mean by more is the ability for Australians to interact with average, everyday North Koreans — without “minders” monitoring every interaction — so that they can build relationships with these people. Even the average North Korean does not trust the DPRK authorities (i.e., cadre class), so why should we? Only when Kim Jong Il can promise “that” to Australians and the rest of the world will development projects of a meaningful scale come to North Korea.