UN humanitarian chief says N Korea aid must go on

Geneva, Oct 11: The United Nations chief of humanitarian operations said today that any international sanctions imposed on North Korea over nuclear testing should not hit food aid to the impoverished country.

''It is not the leaders who will starve or freeze this winter, it is the most vulnerable, including in hospitals,'' UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland told a news conference.

The UN Security Council, which is debating how to respond to Monday's reported underground test in North Korea, has in the past invited his office to comment on the humanitarian consequences of sanctions and should do so in this case, Egeland said.

''I take it for granted that as one discusses sanctions against North Korea that all humanitarian assistance would be unaffected,'' he added.

The Security Council is likely to make a decision by Friday, with signs of a broad consensus building for some type of sanctions, although reservations have been expressed by China and Russia, North Korea's largest trading partners.

The World Food Programme (WFP), the UN's food arm, has warned that it could be forced to halt distributions as early as January without more money being made available.

It aims to feed 1.9 million people in North Korea but is helping fewer than 1 million because of funding shortages. Donors have committed only 10 per cent of the 2 million WFP sought for a two-year programme in the isolated country which began last June.

As many as 2.5 million North Koreans -- about 10 per cent of the population -- died in the 1990s due to famines caused by drought, flooding and economic mismanagement.

Reuters

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