South Korea will send $8 million in aid to North Korea because it says humanity trumps politics
22 replies, posted
[QUOTE]As the screws tighten around North Korea from countries around the world, South Korea announced a decision today (Sept. 21) to [URL="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-southkorea-aid/south-korea-approves-8-million-aid-to-north-korea-timing-to-be-decided-later-idUSKCN1BW0AG"]send $8 million in humanitarian aid[/URL] to Pyongyang.South Korea’s unification minister [URL="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2017/09/20/0401000000AEN20170920011800315.html"]Cho Myoung-gyon said[/URL] that aid should be “separated from political consideration,” even as more and more countries respond to calls led by the US that only strong pressure can force Pyongyang to abandon its military provocations and nuclear weapons program. It has not determined when the aid will be sent to North Korea.
Aid from South Korea will be distributed via United Nations agencies such as Unicef, which today (Sept. 21) called for [URL="http://world.kbs.co.kr/special/northkorea/contents/news/news_view.htm?No=47479&lang=e"]urgent relief for North Korean children[/URL], who are suffering from chronic malnutrition. The new aid commitment marks the first time South Korea is donating aid to the North since December 2015.
Liberal South Korean governments [URL="http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=3038693"]have a track record[/URL] of providing aid to its neighbor even amid serious provocations. President Kim Dae-jung gave $35 million one year after North Korea carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, while conservative leader Lee Myung-bak cut off all aid after another such test in 2009.
South Korean president Moon Jae-in has pledged his support for stronger sanctions against Kim Jong-un’s regime, [URL="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/09/18/2017091800737.html"]in line with the US[/URL]. However, Moon, a human rights lawyer who came to power this year on a platform of a more conciliatory approach to Pyongyang, is persevering [URL="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/14/asia/south-korea-moon-jae-in-profile/index.html"]with a “carrot” approach[/URL], for example by [URL="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2017/07/356_232334.html"]using sport as a diplomatic tool[/URL] ahead of South Korea’s hosting of the Winter Olympics next year. Trump has called Moon’s approach “[URL="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/09/04/2017090401419.html"]appeasement[/URL],” and [URL="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2017/09/15/0301000000AEN20170915012251320.html"]Japan has also[/URL]expressed disagreement Seoul’s decision to send aid.
At home, [URL="http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/805679.html"]a Gallup poll[/URL] in August found that more than half of South Koreans think aid to the North should be suspended if it doesn’t give up its nuclear weapons, while opposition conservative parties [URL="http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170915000705"]have blasted[/URL]Moon’s aid decision.[/QUOTE]
[url]https://qz.com/1083519/south-korea-approves-8-million-in-aid-to-north-korea-because-it-says-humanity-trumps-politics-surrounding-nuclear-program/[/url]
Good on you South Korea, but North Korea are real cunts, they'll still be talking shit about South Korea after this.
[QUOTE=Medevila;52704616]Cool, North Korea just got a sick new ICBM :^)[/QUOTE]
Its humanitarian aid, not straight cash.
[editline]21st September 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE]The South said it aims to send $4.5 million worth of nutritional products for children and pregnant women through the World Food Programme and $3.5 million worth of vaccines and medicinal treatments through UNICEF[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-southkorea-aid/south-korea-approves-8-million-aid-to-north-korea-timing-to-be-decided-later-idUSKCN1BW0AG[/url]
Well damn. Could it mean that there's a small propability of future peaceful co-existence on Korean peninsula?
[QUOTE=Splash Attack;52704625]Its humanitarian aid, not straight cash.
[editline]21st September 2017[/editline]
[url]https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-southkorea-aid/south-korea-approves-8-million-aid-to-north-korea-timing-to-be-decided-later-idUSKCN1BW0AG[/url][/QUOTE]
They are going to extract all the Potassium-40 out of the bananas and turn it into a nuke.
[QUOTE=Mifil;52704702]Well damn. Could it mean that there's a small propability of future peaceful co-existence on Korean peninsula?[/QUOTE]
This changes nothing in the long run.
Dear world,
Please do more things like this.
Lots of love
Individual Person
The poor citizens will never see any of this humanitarian aid.
Kim is going to stash it in his fat palace and hoard it all for himself.
Either that or south korea just helped kim feed his army. Now the money he allocated for foor expenditure is goign to go straight into ICBM development.
[QUOTE=Mifil;52704702]Well damn. Could it mean that there's a small propability of future peaceful co-existence on Korean peninsula?[/QUOTE]
from what ive read elsewhere, most north koreans would be both totally cool with normalized relations and totally lost by a complete reunification. the most advanced piece of technology most of them might see every day is a portable dvd player and modern batteries and a handful of cheap cellphones
can you guys at least read the article. The fund is gonna get spend trough agencies like unicef
naivity of modern society is endless ...
i remember certain empires paid theirs enemies to not attack them
does anyone remember by who those empires fallen then ?
unless you can [B]ensure and secure [/B]the 'dictature' will not use the money for something nasty
then it's wasted (not even UNsomething something agencies can ensure it)
if South Korea spent those money on moving own capital to South or better >something own<
then you would not need worry about NK going en random crazy because they still get money somehow
[QUOTE=MrJazzy;52704864]Dear world,
Please do more things like this.
Lots of love
Individual Person[/QUOTE]
If Africa has taught anything to us...it's not good to do these kind of things unless you have direct control over the distribution...which is a missing variable in most cases
[QUOTE=Andre Gomes;52705042]can you guys at least read the article. The fund is gonna get spend trough agencies like unicef[/QUOTE]
The problem is that NK does not have a good track record for letting aid agencies operate freely, to the point that they can't be certain the aid is actually distributed to the people that need it.
Maybe a first step towards peace?
[QUOTE=_Maverick_;52705506]Maybe a first step towards peace?[/QUOTE]
they had 64 years and 3 changes in leadership to get on that track
there isn't exactly even end of the original conflict ,
it's technically form of stalemate ceasefire in ongoing war
[QUOTE=Dwarden;52705119]naivity of modern society is endless ...
i remember certain empires paid theirs enemies to not attack them
does anyone remember by who those empires fallen then ?
unless you can [B]ensure and secure [/B]the 'dictature' will not use the money for something nasty
then it's wasted (not even UNsomething something agencies can ensure it)
if South Korea spent those money on moving own capital to South or better >something own<
then you would not need worry about NK going en random crazy because they still get money somehow[/QUOTE]
Moving seoul would cost a hell of a lot more than 8 million dollars.
Any of you remember which country has had a chronic shortage of baby formula for years now?
Hint: its very close to North Korea
My point being that WFP and Unicef better keep a really tight leash on distribution, otherwise SK could have just sent cash instead, there would be no difference
[QUOTE=Lambeth;52705677]Moving seoul would cost a hell of a lot more than 8 million dollars.[/QUOTE]
i had in mind all the money NK got in past decades by extorting everyone else
they had chance to move Capital (not Soul just the administrative center) when it wasn't costy
like modern Turkey did for strategic and security reasons ...
and many other nations did it for lesser reasons and even recently with less or more success
anyway with ICBMs in NK arsenal this is moot point now ...
I don't think these kinds of payments are new. At least not historically speaking.
What people don't understand is this $8 millie in aid has done is simply spared the NK regime that much in expenses and has hence given the regime $8 million in cash.
[QUOTE=Sableye;52705008]from what ive read elsewhere, most north koreans would be both totally cool with normalized relations and totally lost by a complete reunification. the most advanced piece of technology most of them might see every day is a portable dvd player and modern batteries and a handful of cheap cellphones[/QUOTE]
I feel like a lot of people underestimate technology usage in the DPRK.
[t]https://i.imgur.com/SOhcd1R.jpg[/t]
Ignoring the creepy mock child army, you can see parents/bystanders recording and taking pictures with what looks to be modern video cameras. I also recall seeing a documentary recently where some citizens were interviewed. Apparently "smartphones" are a thing there but they're super limited. The above pic was also taken in Pyongyang so of course it could all just be upper class citizens with more access to luxuries than common folk.
EDIT: some guy's vlog from the North (Pyongyang of course)
[video=youtube;FtDWYzwwuUs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtDWYzwwuUs[/video]
[QUOTE]it could all just be upper class citizens with more access to luxuries than common folk.[/QUOTE]
That's exactly what it is. That video is no better than propaganda obscuring the fact that the majority of a population of more than [U]25 million[/U] are impoverished, barred access to modern technology including smartphones, and often malnourished. Only 2.5m live in Pyongyang.
call me ignorant but i didn't think that humanitarian organizations like unicef operated in north korea
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.