Food and Humanitarian Crisis in North Korea - Essay Example

The United States should assist North Korea in its current crisis as the country has a tradition of making help available for others regardless of their political and economical ideas and beliefs. Hopefully, this will give an indication to the regime that the American government has a vested interest in the welfare of the people regardless of the political differences and the relationship between the two countries.

Assistance to North Korea can in the long run eliminate the threat of nuclear power by the country. The February 2007 agreement between the USA and North Korea in the denuclearization process within the six-party framework should offer some glimmer of hope to the USA. The rewards given to North Korea such as promises of food and energy support should work towards an eventual change in behavior. Although North Korea is still continuing with its nuclear program the six-party talks and tangible support and promises should be consistent. In January 2009 North Korea hinted that it would curtail its nuclear program if there was an establishment of formal diplomatic relations with the USA, among other stipulations.

The ultimate objective of assistance to North Korea should be for basic human rights reasons. Humanitarian aid should be targeted at the suffering population rather than trying to create an impression on the political leaders. Aid is valuable from the western viewpoint of human rights but should not be expected to change the policies of Kim Jong

 II  (Kong Dan Oh 204).

While on the one hand humanitarian aid will and should benefit the people, it can also, unfortunately, create some advantage for the ruling regime. The totalitarian nature of the regime makes it possible for any international body to have direct responsibility for the distribution of aid. Depending on the type of aid this can be manipulated by the political directorate and give them more strength and power instead of providing relief for the population. History has shown that an increase in humanitarian aid to the country has not deterred the hostilities and attacks on the human rights of the citizens.

The United States should apply maximum sanctions as long as North Korea breaks the rules related to its nuclear program. Making humanitarian aid available and hoping that will change the political nature of the regime has never been very successful in the past and there has been no indication that this carrot and stick method will work. There are other countries and international organizations apart from the USA that is involved in humanitarian aid so what the USA is doing is in no way unique to the situation. The recent expulsion of US and U.N. experts monitoring the nuclear facilities indicate to the world that North Korea has no interest in yielding. Rather than using humanitarian aid as a ploy the USA should use its power and influence in propositioning other countries such as China to make tougher sanctions. There is more hope in using these types of tactics.