[Cankor] Report #221

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Dear subscriber,

Welcome to issue #221 of the CanKor Report.

For articles not original to CanKor, direct links are available in the
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The CanKor team

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CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE
CanKor # 221
Friday, 29 September 2005
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The 139-nation IAEA General Assembly passes a resolution by consensus 
welcoming DPRK's pledge to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme. China 
and Russia decline to co-sponsor the resolution, unhappy that it focuses too 
much on US priorities. The PR China wished to include wording focusing on 
incentives. The USA wished to take Pyongyang to task for violating the NPT, 
without changing any understanding agreed to at the Six-Party Talks.

A statement made by the DPRK delegate to the plenary session of the Geneva 
Conference on Disarmament on 22 September underlines in clear language that 
the DPRK "will feel no need to keep even a single nuclear weapon," if the 
USA provides a light water reactors as evidence of its peaceful intentions.

The Koreas will open their first joint business office in the Kaesong 
Industrial Complex north of the DMZ next month to promote inter-Korean 
trade. More than 170 South Koreans have been invited for an unprecedented 
investor relations event to take place in October. This week's CanKor FOCUS 
features stories that back up Hyundai-Asan's mission to "opening the way" to 
peace and prosperity through inter-Korean business relations. The notion of 
the DPRK as a commercial black box is outdated, according to Hyundai-Asan, 
as the Kaesong Industrial Park is transformed into a hive of commercial 
activity.

Two articles are featured in this week's OPINION section. The first, by John 
Feffer, analyses the use of ambiguous language in the agreement reached at 
Six-Party Talks, which is meant to satisfy hard-liners in both the US and 
DPRK camps, while giving diplomacy a chance to work out a clear agreement 
next time. The second is an op-ed piece in the Washington Post by S. Haggard 
and M. Noland that reiterates the link between human rights and 
international food aid, which the DPRK says is no longer needed after 2005.
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Contents:
1.   IAEA RESOLUTION WELCOMES DPRK NUCLEAR DISMANTLEMENT
     http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/09/30/64183.html
2.   "NOT A SINGLE NUKE NEEDED" IF USA NO LONGER A THREAT
     http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2005/200509/news09/28.htm#2

FOCUS: Inter-Korean business "opening the way" to peace and prosperity
3.   FIRST INTER-KOREAN BUSINESS OFFICE TO OPEN IN KAESONG
     http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200509/kt2005092918024553460.htm
4.   HYUNDA-ASAN SHOWCASES INTER-KOREAN BUSINESS NEWS
     http://www.hdasan.com

OPINION
5.   DPRK USES OF AMBIGUITY IN 6-PARTY AGREEMENT
     http://fpif.org/fpiftp/758
6.   HUNGRY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
     http://www.iie.com/publications/opeds/oped.cfm?ResearchID=566
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1.   IAEA RESOLUTION WELCOMES DPRK NUCLEAR DISMANTLEMENT
     Pravda.ru, 30 September 2005

The United States prevailed over China on Friday as the International Atomic 
Energy Agency passed a resolution welcoming North Korea's pledge to give up 
nuclear arms but taking Pyongyang to task for violating the 
non-proliferation treaty.

China refrained from co-sponsoring the text, which was adopted by consensus, 
in a reflection of its displeasure with the resolution focusing on US 
priorities. Still, diplomats noted that the resolution was submitted to the 
139-nation IAEA General Assembly only after Beijing indirectly signed off on 
the text.

Russia, which along with China is one of five nations negotiating with North 
Korea over scrapping its nuclear arms, also did not co-sponsor the text, 
showing that it, too, was unhappy with the outcome.

But the dispute is significant because it reflects the disagreement between 
the two nations on how to proceed at a more important level: on future talks 
among North Korea, China, the United States and three other nations meant to 
build on Pyongyang's commitment to mothball its nuclear weapons, the AP 
says.

Confirming the differences and outlining Washington's concerns, US State 
Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday that the USA was insisting 
any resolution agreed upon in Vienna not "change any understandings or what 
was agreed to at the six-party talks."

A diplomat, who demanded anonymity because the resolution had not been made 
public, said the text tried to balance US concerns that North Korea commit 
to honoring the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and less specific 
Chinese-requested language focusing on rewards to Pyongyang.

At their last meeting earlier this month, delegates from North Korea, the 
United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan reached a landmark 
accord in which North Korea pledged to abandon all its nuclear programs in 
exchange for economic aid and security assurances.

In return, it won recognition of its desire to keep its civilian nuclear 
program and a pledge to discuss its demand for a light-water nuclear 
reactor, after it meets international safeguards and rejoins the Nuclear 
Non-proliferation Treaty.

But just hours later, Pyongyang said it would not dismantle its nuclear 
facilities until it gets light-water reactors from the United States, 
casting a shadow on the agreement. Washington has rejected that demand.
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2.   "NOT A SINGLE NUKE NEEDED" IF USA NO LONGER A THREAT
     Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), 27 September 2005

The DPRK will closely follow how the USA will move at the phase of "action 
for action" in the future. A DPRK delegate declared this at a plenary 
session of the Geneva Conference on Disarmament on September 22, referring 
to the close of the second phase of the fourth six-party talks on the 
nuclear issue between the DPRK and the USA. The DPRK approached the talks 
with magnanimity, patience and sincerity, proceeding from the principled, 
fair and aboveboard stand to achieve the general goal of the 
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at any cost, and at last succeeded 
in meeting all the challenges, making it possible to agree on the joint 
statement, "verbal commitments," he noted, and went on:

The joint statement reflects the DPRK's consistent stand on the settlement 
of the DPRK-US nuclear issue and, at the same time, the commitments of the 
USA and South Korea responsible for denuclearizing the whole of the Korean 
Peninsula. The DPRK will feel no need to keep even a single nuclear weapon 
if its relations with the USA are normalized, bilateral confidence is built 
and it is not exposed to the US nuclear threat any longer.

What is most essential is, therefore, for the USA to provide light water 
reactors to the DPRK as early as possible as evidence proving the formers 
substantial recognition of the latter's nuclear activity for a peaceful 
purpose.
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FOCUS: Inter-Korean business "opening the way" to peace and prosperity

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3.   FIRST INTER-KOREAN BUSINESS OFFICE TO OPEN IN KAESONG
     by Seo Dong-shin, The Korea Times, 29 September 2005

South and North Korea will open the first-ever permanent joint office for 
economic cooperation on Oct. 25 in the North Korean border town of Kaesong 
where an inter-Korean industrial complex is located, the Unification 
Ministry said Thursday. The opening ceremony of the office will coincide 
with the start of the 11th round of the inter-Korean economic cooperation 
promotion committee at the same venue, Vice Unification Minister Rhee 
Bong-jo told reporters.

On Saturday, North Korea will hold the first-ever investment road show for 
South Korean businessmen in Pyongyang, Rhee said.

The two sides have consulted on the establishment of the office in recent 
months, following the agreement struck at the 10th round of the inter-Korean 
cooperation committee in July in Seoul. Located in a building annexed to the 
office of the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee, the office 
will serve the 16 South Korean officials to be stationed there, who will 
work with 12 North Korean members, Rhee said.

The South Korean staff will consist of seven government officials, five 
technical assistants and four civilians dispatched from the Korea 
Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, the Korea International Trade 
Association, the Small Business Corporation and the Export-Import Bank of 
Korea. Some South Korean officials will start working in Kaesong in early 
October and prepare for the opening ceremony, according to Rhee.

"We expect the office to upgrade the institutionalization of economic 
cooperation and boost direct bilateral trade, as it allows permanent 
consultation between South and North Korea," said Rhee. The office will 
provide guidance on trade and investment information in the North and 
arrange business meetings between the businessmen of the two Koreas, he 
added.

The North's investment presentation for South Korean businessmen will be 
organized by the National Economic Cooperation Federation of the communist 
country. Some 170 South Korean officials and businessmen will attend the 
event, including representatives from the Korea Industrial Complex 
Corporation, the Korea Federation of Textile Industries and the Korea 
Development Bank.

"We think the investment presentation shows the North's efforts to attract 
more investment and boost the drive for economic cooperation with the 
South," Rhee said. It could be also understood as a follow-up measure for 
the agreement from the 16th round of inter-Korean Cabinet talks, which said 
that two Koreas would take active steps to promote investment and trade, he 
said. North Koreans will propose items for investment attraction and 
possibly hold individual consultation sessions during the presentation, 
according to the ministry.
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4.   HYUNDA-ASAN SHOWCASES INTER-KOREAN BUSINESS NEWS
     from Hyundai Asan Newsletters of June and September 2005

I. HYUNDAI ASAN LAUNCHED PILOT TOUR TO KAESONG, DPR KOREA
On August 26, Hyundai Asan began one-day trial tours to the city of Kaesong. 
Over 500 South Korean tourists visited Kaesong near Kaesong Industrial Park. 
Last month, Hyundai Business Group Chairperson, Hyun Jeong-Eun met North 
Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and agreed on advancing the new Kaesong tour.

Kaesong could now become South Korea's second tour destination in the North 
after Mt. Kumgang. Two more trial tours will follow on September 2 and 7 
with 500 people participating in each. A total of 1,500 South Koreans will 
have visited Kaesong as tourists for the first time in 55 years by early 
September. Buses carrying tourists leave Kyungbok Palace in Seoul via the 
Dorasan immigration office and DMZ. It takes slightly more than two hours 
including customs and immigration processing. The major tour attractions are 
the Koryo Museum, Seonjuk Bridge, Bakyeon Falls and Kaesong Industrial Park. 
It is expected that many people will take interest in the program since it 
only takes two hours to arrive to Kaesong.

II. NEW FACILITIES OPENED IN MT. KUMGANG
The opening ceremony of the new facilities at Mt Kumgang was held on August 
31, 2005. The newly opened facilities involve Okryukwan, the North Korean 
restaurant, Family Beach Hotel near the Kosung Harbor and the 2nd Onjunggak 
Rest House.  Mt. Kumgang tourists now can stay at the new beach hotel with a 
great ocean view, taste North Korean cold noodles at the famous Okryukwan 
restaurant and enjoy a variety of cuisines at the food court of the new 
Onjunggak Rest House. It is now expected that more people will enjoy Mt. 
Kumgang with its well-equipped facilities.

III. GROUND-BREAKING OF NEW FAMILY REUNION CENTER
The 11th round of family reunions took place at Mt. Kumgang from August 26 
to August 29. At the last day of the reunions, the two Koreas held a 
groundbreaking ceremony for the family reunion center. Hyundai Asan and 
Hyundai Engineering & Construction company has won a US$49 million 
construction contract from the South Korean Red Cross to build the family 
reunion center. The reunion center, which includes a reception hall that has 
a capacity of 600 people, will be built at the Mt. Kumgang tourism zone by 
April of 2007.

IV. PUBLIC NOTICE OF FACTORY LOT SALE AT KAESONG INDUSTRIAL PARK
On August 16, there was a public notice to sell the factory lots in the 
Kaesong Industrial Park to South Korean companies. Applicants could apply 
for three types of lots: 1) ordinary factory lots (private); 2) cooperative 
site, in which companies share warehouses and other facilities; and 3) 
apartment-style factory sites, where one can build a factory and rent it 
out.

A total of ninety-two companies applied for the 40 acres of lots. Of the 
applicants, ninety companies applied for the ordinary private factory lots 
while one for a cooperative site and the other for the apartment-style 
factory site by Korea Industrial Complex Corporation. Most of the applicants 
were currently working in the textile, clothing, shoe or handbag industries. 
About twenty-five companies will be selected by September 12, 2005.

V. RO KOREAN SINGER CHO YONG-PIL HELD CONCERT IN PYONGYANG
On August 23, Korean pop singer Cho Yong-Pil had his first concert at 
Ryukyung Chung Ju-Yung Gymnasium in Pyongyang, North Korea, which was named 
after the late Hyundai group founder. An audience of about 7,000 rose to 
their feet and applauded immediately following the two-hour concert. The 
songs might have been new to the people of Pyongyang but they were all 
singing and clapping together.

VI. MT. KUMGANG AND KAESONG INDUSTRIAL PARK PRESENTATION
On August 17, Hyundai Asan gave a presentation to the DMZ Forum 
International Conference, the International Environment Organization, for 
Mt. Kumgang and Kaesong Industrial Park. Participants were interested about 
how well the environment was being maintained in North Korea and what is the 
best way to preserve it.

VII. FASHION SHOW IN KAESONG INDUSTRIAL PARK
On May 26, there was a fashion show at Kaesong Industrial Park. South Korean 
apparel maker Shinwon, one of the tenant company in Kaesong pilot complex, 
held the first fashion show at the industrial park commemorating the 
completion of its manufacturing plant at Kaesong, North Korea.

More than 500 participated in the fashion show including Lim Dong-Won, 
former unification minister, Shinwon Chairman Park Seong-Chul, Hyundai 
Business Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-Eun, Hyundai Asan Vice Chairman Kim 
Yoon-Kyu and President Yoon Man-Joon. The Hyundai Business Group Chairwoman 
Hyun Jeong-Eun gave a congratulatory address for the event.

The 20-minute fashion show featured about 100 outfits. Twenty models 
including celebrities Kim Tae-Hee and Choi Ja-Hye presented the clothes. 
Shinwon completed construction of the factory in January 2005. The facility 
contains five production lines; clothes already made have been selling at 
stores in South Korea since March.

"Thanks to the fine performance of the North Korean workers, we started 
making net profits in April, eight months earlier than we had planned. In 
the future, we plan to manufacture 20 percent of our total production at our 
Kaesong factory" Mr. Park, the Chairman of Shinwon, said in an address.

VIII. KOREAS RESUMED THEIR TALK AT KAESONG
On May 16, 2005, after a halt of almost a year in direct contact between the 
two Koreas, the two government official resumed high-level talks over 
fertilizer supplies from the South, plans to improve the inter-Korean rail 
system and when to restart ministerial negotiations.

In the joint statement, concluding the three days of discussions, the both 
Koreas said they would hold a minister-level dialogue in Seoul from June 
21st to 24th.  The two sides also agreed that Seoul would begin shipments of 
200,000 tons of promised fertilizer to North Korea. The group, led by 
Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young, will attend the June 15 joint 
celebration marking the fifth anniversary of an inter-Korean summit.

IX. PRESIDENT YOON MAN-JOON VISITED US EMBASSY
On May 20th, the president of Hyundai Asan, Yoon Man-Joon, had courtesy 
visit to the US acting Ambassador Mark C. Minton. President Yoon and the 
Ambassador shared Hyundai Asan's Kaesong Industrial Park and Mt. Kumgang 
project. The president asked for US's continuous support and understanding 
for Hyundai Asan's inter-Korean cooperative business.

X. AESAN + 3 NTO VISITED MT. KUMGANG
The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation) plus three Ministerial 
Meeting on tourism was held on May 25, 2005 near Mt. Kumgang.  The Meeting 
was attended by Ministers from ASEAN Member Countries, China, Korea and 
Japan. On May 26th, about twenty participants of the meeting visited Mt. 
Kumgang for a one-day trip. They were curious about how South and North 
Korea could work together and get along with each other in the tourism 
industry. They also enjoyed and appreciated Mt. Kumgang' famous hot spring 
spa very much.

XI. EVENTS AT MT. KUMGANG
On May 22nd - 24th, university students from both Koreas met at Mt. Kumgang. 
About 450 South Korean students and 100 North Koreans attended this event. 
They climbed the mountain and shared the cultural performances together.

On May 27th, there was a rice-planting event at Samilpo Cooperative Farm in 
Mt. Kumgang. About 100 people from the South and North participated in this 
event.

On May 27th, thirteen-handicapped tourist visited Mt. Kumgang for the daily 
tour. Hyundai Asan has been working closely with the handicapped 
organization to give the handicapped an opportunity to visit Mt. Kumgang. 
Next visit is set for June 14th for a one night / two day trip.
*************************************************

OPINION

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5.   DPRK USES OF AMBIGUITY IN 6-PARTY AGREEMENT
     by John Feffer, Foreign Policy In Focus, 1 October 2005

On September 19, North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program. As part 
of the same agreement, which followed the latest round of the Six Party 
Talks, the United States pledged not to attack or invade North Korea, to 
coexist peacefully with the country, and to work toward normalized 
relations. The United States and other parties to the agreement -- China, 
Japan, Russia, and South Korea -- offered to put together an energy package 
for North Korea.

1. Shift Toward Diplomacy
While this agreement represents the triumph of diplomacy over military 
confrontation -- and an important US shift toward negotiating with a country 
previously declared beyond negotiations -- it doesn't represent a victory of 
clarity over ambiguity. In fact, the differences of opinion that marked the 
confrontation prior to the agreement remain largely untouched. No specific 
commitments have been nailed down; no deadlines have been identified. Both 
the United States and North Korea have issued their own independent 
interpretations of the agreement and, not surprisingly, they do not see eye 
to eye.

2. Ambiguities Will Bedevil Negotiations
The agreement's ambiguities will bedevil negotiators when talks resume in 
November. The ambiguities revolve around the following issues: Civilian 
nuclear power: North Korea wants a light-water nuclear reactor from the 
United States to substitute for its dismantled nuclear complex. The Bush 
administration has repeatedly declared that such a nuclear reactor is not 
part of the deal. The agreement merely states that the countries involved 
will address the issue of a civilian nuclear program "at an appropriate 
time."


Sequence: North Korea wants incentives step-by-step through the process 
while the United States has maintained that any energy supplies will come 
only after dismantlement. Since the agreement lacks any specific deadlines, 
the disagreement over sequence has merely been kicked down the road.

Normalization: The agreement does not spell out the steps North Korea needs 
to take to normalize relations with the United States and Japan. Japan has 
demanded more information about its citizens that North Korea abducted in 
the 1970s and 1980s and who remain unaccounted for. Unmentioned in the 
agreement is North Korea's human rights record, which the Bush 
administration has previously implied is linked to diplomatic recognition. 
North Korea considers explicit linkage of human rights to normalization to 
be interference in its sovereignty and has argued that it provided Japan all 
available information on the missing abductees.

3. Background Agendas
The ambiguity of the agreement speaks not to any lack of diplomatic skill 
but rather to the eagerness of the key players to achieve some measure of 
progress in the negotiations. The United States needs a foreign policy 
victory to balance the twin quagmires of Iraq and New Orleans.

North Korea desperately needs a transfusion of energy to revive its industry 
and agriculture. In addition to the heightened stature of brokering a 
compromise, China wants to avoid any military confrontation between the 
United States and North Korea that might jeopardize its own economic growth. 
South Korea wants to keep its own engagement policy with the North on track.

4. Steps Necessary for Genuine Agreement
As negotiators prepare for the next round of talks, much can be done to inch 
away from ambiguity and toward genuine compromise, including the following 
steps:

Face to Face Meeting: Chief US negotiator Chris Hill has expressed interest 
in visiting Pyongyang between now and the start of the next round of talks. 
Such a face-to-face meeting by a high-level envoy would go a long way toward 
satisfying North Korea's desire for bilateral negotiations and could 
therefore help nudge Pyongyang toward greater reciprocal flexibility.

Energy Dependency: North Korea's desire for a civilian nuclear program is in 
part a fear of being dependent on outside sources of energy. While South 
Korea has been remarkably generous in its energy promises -- offering as 
much as $10 billion of electricity over the next decade -- Pyongyang doesn't 
want its entire infrastructure subject to the whims of Seoul. Negotiators 
recognized North Korea's sovereign right to a civilian nuclear program but 
not its underlying concerns about energy dependency.

Realistic Give-and-Take: No country is likely to give up its only bargaining 
chip in exchange for a promise of recompense in the final stage. But neither 
is North Korea likely to receive any truly significant concession at the 
very outset. Both the United States and North Korea must step away from 
these maximalist positions and hammer out a realistic sequence of 
give-and-take.

Building a New Framework: North Korea must stop viewing normalization of 
relations with the United States as a solution to its international 
isolation and economic predicament. And the United States should stop 
viewing normalization as a reward for North Korea's good behaviour. 
Normalized relations between the two countries should instead be understood 
as a framework for discussing bilateral issues of concern. The sooner both 
countries establish such a framework the better.

5. Clarity Next Time
Both the United States and North Korea may well be using the September 
agreement as a stalling tactic. The Bush administration is divided on the 
issue of North Korea, and several key administration figures such as Vice 
President Cheney prefer regime collapse to substantive negotiations. In 
North Korea, meanwhile, a hard-line faction likely favours waiting for a 
better deal or a more robust nuclear deterrent. With the September 19 
agreement, the negotiators at least temporarily trumped the hardliners by 
using ambiguity as a method of achieving common ground. In November, they'll 
have to risk both clarity and confrontation in order to get a real deal.
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6.   HUNGRY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
     by S. Haggard and M. Noland, Washington Post, 28 September 2005

The recent diplomatic attention to North Korea's nuclear ambitions should 
not distract us from a second, equally grim, problem posed by that country: 
its chronic food emergency.

In the 1990s, as many as 1 million North Koreans died in one of the worst 
famines of the century. This catastrophe would be the equivalent of roughly 
15 million dead in the United States. Now, once again, North Korea's 
citizens are facing man-made food shortages that pose difficult challenges 
to other nations.

In the mid-1990s, North Korea was battered by severe weather, including 
floods. But the country's agricultural decline had begun well before those 
events. Rather than purchasing food on the world market or seeking 
multilateral assistance, the regime dithered. The government blocked 
humanitarian aid to the hardest-hit parts of the country and curtailed 
commercial imports of food as assistance was ramped up. Pyongyang in essence 
used humanitarian aid as balance-of-payments support, enabling dubious 
military white elephants such as the purchase of fighter jets from the 
Kazakh air force and centrifuges from Pakistan.

Grain production today remains below its 1990 level. With North Korea into 
the second decade of the food emergency, it is implausible to blame natural 
disasters. Failed economic policies and a misguided emphasis on food 
self-sufficiency remain problems, but underneath these proximate causes is a 
more fundamental political fact: the absence of human, civil, and political 
rights. With no channels for redress, the large urban non-elite --  
accounting for roughly 40 percent of the population -- faces a chronic food 
emergency.

The world community has responded to this tragedy with considerable 
generosity, committing more than $2 billion in food aid over the past 
decade. The United States alone has contributed more than $600 million, 
equivalent to 2 million metric tons of grain, and continues to provide 
assistance despite diplomatic tensions.

Yet at virtually every turn, the North Korean government has placed 
roadblocks in the way of donors.

The primary conduit of the relief effort has been the UN World Food Program 
(WFP). The WFP still cannot monitor shipments from port to recipient. It 
still is not permitted to use Korean-speaking staffers (although the North 
Koreans now allow them to take language lessons), and aid workers are 
restricted in their movements. Roughly 50 workers-all the North Koreans will 
accept-are responsible for overseeing the distribution of food to roughly 6 
million vulnerable individuals in a country the size of Louisiana.

Our estimates suggest that up to half of aid deliveries do not reach their 
intended recipients. They are diverted to the less deserving or siphoned off 
into emerging markets.

North Korea remains ideologically committed to a fantasy of self-reliance; 
in fact, the country always relied on its socialist patrons, and now it 
relies on international largesse. North Korea will always import food. The 
issue is who will pay for it: the North Koreans or the international 
community? The long-term solution is to export industrial products and 
import bulk grains-just as its neighbors South Korea, China, and Japan do.

But in the short term, the international community faces an ethical dilemma. 
It is tempting to walk away in hopes that the intensification of misery will 
contribute to regime change. But such a stance woefully underestimates the 
staying power of this dictatorship, and it assumes that others will not step 
in to fill the gap.

Yet, if the world is going to continue to provide aid, we should be 
clear-eyed about the terms on which it is provided. Two bilateral donors, 
China and South Korea, supply large amounts of aid that is essentially 
unconditional and outside the WFP ambit. This undercuts the agency's 
negotiating leverage with the North Korean government.

Indeed, the North Koreans recently requested that the WFP terminate its 
operations by the end of the year. Whether this is a credible threat or 
simply a negotiating gambit to further erode the WFP's monitoring system is 
uncertain. What is clear is that large bilateral donors, particularly South 
Korea, should channel more of their aid through the WFP. Like the United 
States, South Korea should insist that a significant share of its assistance 
be delivered to ports in the worst affected areas. North Korean markets 
remain fragmented, and such aid, even if diverted, is likely to have a 
greater ameliorative impact than unmonitored assistance managed by the 
central government.

The recent progress in the six-party talks offers modest hope of normalizing 
North Korea's relations with the rest of the world and thereby contributing 
to the resolution of its food emergency through a process of economic 
engagement that would get it off the international dole. But the ultimate 
guarantee of food security will come only when the North Koreans achieve the 
human, civil, and political rights necessary to hold their government 
accountable.
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End CanKor # 221

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