2002 Newsletter

NGO Activities in North Korea

Ambassador Harry G. Barnes, Jr. Senior Advisor and Consultant, The Asia Society.

Harry Barnes, Senior Advisor to the Asia Society, for several years Director of the Carter Center conflict resolution and human rights program; previously ambassador to Romania, India and Chile and Director General of the Foreign Service: The Asia Society has just surveyed Non-Governmental Organizations in North Korea, financed by the Luce Foundation with help from the Korea Society. There are only 30 or so NGOs operating there, equally divided between humanitarian and public policy organizations, most involved for 5-6 years. U.S. NGOs have begun to be accepted, though officials are suspicious and hesitant about them. In 1996, the Carter Center and Rockefeller Brothers Fund provided agricultural assistance; later U.S. AID negotiated a technical assistance program for potato-growing. At first, the North Koreans treated our group like enemies, subjecting us to diatribes. But they signed the agreement as we wanted it. Generally, if the North Koreans see a clear benefit, they will be positive. If a proposal is not specific, they will reject it. NGO relations with North Korean officials depend on U.S. government relations with them.

If you’re considering NGO services to North Korea, there are lots of useful tasks, but success requires patience-think 5-10 years. North Korea wants to be treated like a large state. They call U.S. policy hostile to them; we assured them we are not hostile, but President Bush's statement was not reassuring. Now, Secretary Powell's statement allows for "somewhat piecemeal" negotiations.

Commenting on the speeches, Professor Young Kun Kim: The main question is, will Koreans be able to be patient. Bosworth: North Korea doesn't have a lot of time. Maybe they question whether South Korea is capable of providing enough aid to be worth closer relationship. More confidence building along the DMZ would make it easier for South Korea to give more aid. What they have invested in North Korea is far smaller than what they invested to restructure the South Korean banking industry. Regarding the problem of North Koreans fleeing into China, the only solution is to improve conditions in North Korea.

K. C. Kim, Chair of the DMZ Forum, Professor of Entomology and Director, Center for Biodiversity Research, Pennsylvania State University: South Korea has been successful economically, but the environment has been badly damaged. The DMZ will be the core of rebuilding the environment. To do that, we have to watch the politics closely. This meeting is part of that process. The DMZ ecosystem is a resource for Pan Korean conversation. The Korean ecosystem requires massive reconstruction. That will require the living organisms in the DMZ, re-established in the rest of Korea. The Korean Peninsula ecosystem is the most damaged in the world’s temperate zone. After North-South relationships are resolved, the next challenge is the environment. In 1993-94, Korean scientists were organized and produced a 1994 report on biodiversity. I took the challenge to push for the preservation of the DMZ. Preserving the DMZ has been discussed by both North and South Korean governments.

At a 1995 international conference in Hokkaido, I spoke about the DMZ becoming a Peace Park. A North Korean representative, a student of entomology, became my friend. I wrote him; he replied that he couldn't discuss the DMZ, but we've met almost every year to discuss biodiversity. At the DMZ Forum conference in 1999, the North Koreans did not show up, but a year later, Radio Free Asia reported that North Korea referred to the Forum meeting and said that it is important to consider the DMZ environmentally. The DMZ Forum has broad-based international support. We need financial support to carry out necessary programs.

Seung-ho Lee, President of the DMZ Forum: The Forum needs funds for disseminating the information on the DMZ and its ecological importance for conservation and peace on the Korean peninsula through webpage and publications. In addition, the Forum must keep the idea of transforming the DMZ into a World Peace Park in political discussions. We should keep focusing on how to de-militarize the DMZ for peaceful uses from diverse viewpoints.

< Back to Past Events