It’s beyond my comprehension why we are feeding North Korea, especially since they have threatened us. But how much money is taken from US taxpayers to pay for North Koreas food welfare?
You will be pleased to know that President Bush has suspended food aid to North Korea.
In 1998, the US funded 200 thousand tons of emergency food aid to North Korea.
The purpose of food aid is not to feed North Korea, it’s to feed millions of people who are being oppressed by a brutal psychotic regime that is directly responsible for North Korea’s economic collapse and widespread famine. Those people have not threatened the US, nor are they a threat to us.
According to USAID, total food aid to North Korea from 1995 to 2002 is worth about $620 million. That doesn’t include private charities based in the US.
So, absolutely none of the US food aid is eaten by North Korean soldiers lined up on the DMZ?
As I stated before, the US has cutoff aid. If that is not good enough for you, Hermann, I suggest you go over there and take back any remaining American food from the mouths of the atheist devils. Compassionate conservatism at work.
Damn, that’s a little harsh, isn’t it? In a perfect world, I would prefer that no one starve, too, but I would also prefer that no one threaten thier neighbors (or my friends) with invasion, death, repression, etc. I would certainly not want to empower North Korea to invade South Korea.
If that is conservatism, then I guess I’m conservative, and if you read that as preferring that people starve to death, well… I suggest you either work with an open mind to understand the people you are criticizing, or admit that you don’t want to.
Since this thread is due any second now to become GD material, I would be interested to know what steps YOU would take to solve the Korean problem, and what the immediate and long term effects might be. I would absolutely ADORE any workable solution, and I don’t care who it comes from. I’m very worried that an invasion by N.K. of S.K. is imminent.
I only hope that we can find a way to prevent further mass death due to either cause. I’m sure it will be very difficult.
Although it seems Kim Jong-Il and his cronies were stealing it to give to their troops and loyalists. COntrol of food seems to be a power-preservation strategy among NK’s top leaders.
From my readings, the consensus among Western observers is that Kim il Jong has been diverting much of the international aid (whether food or finances) to arm, feed, and otherwise outfit his NK troops, along with high-ranking Communist officials and other groups assigned with security issues.
Okay, let’s cut down this forest so we can see the trees clearly.
It is not aid to North Korea.
“What?”, you say.
Oh, sure. The North Koreans get the food alright. But where does it come from? The American farmer. (and I’m not talking about “Farmer Brown” walking behind the horse pulling a plow. This is BIG BUSINESS) Our government is using your tax money to buy food from those in agribusiness with the right connections, and whoever gets the final product is irrelevant.
Remember the so called “cold war”? Who was the biggest customer of American wheat? The Russians, our arch enemy. They bought food not from our government , but from the “farmers” with the right connections to our government.
And don’t get me started on Food Stamps.
(Do we see a trend here?)
Now, personally, I have no problem with hungry people getting food no matter where it comes from. The food supply in this world is big enough that no one would be starving if it weren’t for the lopsided distribution.
As far as who is the good guy and who is the bad guy, I’ll leave that up to you. I just wanted to unmuddy the water a little.
Because a starving Soviet Union would have been a great plus on the side of world peace…
I feel for the NK people, but NK also needs to know that food aid is not without strings.
Perhaps the phrase “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” isn’t popular over there?