North Korean Economy Watch

Washington Post, Page A18
Colum Lynch
6/24/2007

Over the past six months, the Bush administration has repeatedly criticized the U.N. Development Program for channeling millions of dollars in hard currency into North Korea to finance the agency’s programs, warning that the money might be diverted to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

But the United States also has funneled dollars to Kim Jong Il’s regime over the past decade, financing travel for North Korean diplomats and paying more than $20 million in cash for the remains of 229 U.S. soldiers from the Korean War. And in a bid to advance nuclear talks, the Bush administration recently transferred back to North Korea about $25 million in cash that the Treasury Department had frozen at Banco Delta Asia, a Macao-based bank that the United States had accused of laundering counterfeit U.S. currency on behalf of North Korea.

Such transactions emphasize philosophical differences in the administration over the wisdom of engaging with North Korea and highlight the compromises that the United States, the United Nations and others face in dealing with Pyongyang.

“The U.S. has no moral high ground,” said Michael Green, a former special assistant to President Bush who served as senior director for Asian affairs in the National Security Council. “In terms of bribing Kim Jong Il, UNDP is a minor offender.”

North Korea’s regime has skillfully extracted hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes from foreign companies and governments, and has persuaded South Korea and China to supply billions of dollars’ worth of food and fuel with virtually no oversight. South Korea reportedly paid hundreds of millions to bribe the North Korean leader to attend a 2000 summit, and China agreed in 2005 to build a $50 million glass factory for North Korea in exchange for its participation in six-nation nuclear talks.

Such payments are “part and parcel of doing business in North Korea,” said L. Gordon Flake, executive director of the Mansfield Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes U.S. relations with Asian countries.

Since 1995, the United States has provided the North Korean regime with more than $1 billion worth of food and fuel in the hopes of forestalling famine — and of restraining Kim’s nuclear ambitions. In an effort to promote diplomatic contacts between the two countries, the Energy Department has channeled money to U.S. nonprofit agencies and universities, including a $1 million grant to the Atlantic Council to cover travel costs for informal talks between U.S. and North Korean diplomats.

U.S. military officials routinely traveled to North Korea’s demilitarized zone between 1996 and 2005 to give cash to North Korean army officers for the recovery of the remains of 229 of the more than 7,000 U.S. troops missing in North Korea since the Korean War. “There was a painstaking transfer process: cold, hard cash, counted carefully, turned over carefully,” said Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon’s Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office.

Greer insisted that the payments, which covered labor, material and other expenses, were in line with recovery operations in other parts of the world. But he and other officials said North Korea frequently tried to inflate the costs and once requested that the U.S. military build a baby-clothing factory. The United States demurred, he said.

The Bush administration dramatically scaled back U.S. assistance to North Korea in 2002, but it continued to finance the effort to recover remains of Korean War veterans until 2005, when the U.S. military said it could no longer ensure the safety of U.S. recovery teams. Between 2002 and 2005, the United States flew a seven-member North Korean team, at a cost of $25,000 a year, to Bangkok for discussions about future recovery missions, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“It’s pretty close to a ransom of remains,” said James A. Kelly, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, adding he had little confidence that Washington could account for how the money was spent. “I personally didn’t like it, but I didn’t feel it was enough to get into a big squabble with the veterans organizations that felt strongly about it.”

Mark D. Wallace, the U.S. representative to the United Nations for administration and reform, lambasted the U.N. Development Program earlier this year for engaging in similar practices. For instance, he faulted the UNDP for flying a North Korean official in business class to New York at a cost of $12,000 to attend a meeting of the U.N. agency’s board of directors.

His complaints triggered a preliminary U.N. audit this month that confirmed that the UNDP had failed to abide by its rules by hiring workers handpicked by the North Korean government and paying them in foreign currency.

The UNDP operated for years “in blatant violation of U.N. rules [and] served as a steady and large source of hard currency” for the North Korean government, Wallace said. The UNDP’s efforts, he added, have been “systematically perverted for the benefit of the Kim Jong Il regime, rather than the people of North Korea.”

The controversy led the UNDP to suspend its North Korean operations in March after the government refused to allow it to independently hire staff members. The World Food Program and the U.N. Children’s Fund — which also pay government-supplied workers in foreign currency — remain active in North Korea.

Wallace has expanded his inquiry, alleging in congressional briefings that North Korea diverted nearly $3 million in UNDP cash to purchase real estate in France, Britain and Canada. He also contended that the UNDP received tens of thousands of dollars in counterfeit U.S. currency and imported sensitive “dual use” equipment into North Korea that could be used for a weapons program. The United States claims to possess internal UNDP documents to back up the claims but has refused to turn them over.

UNDP spokesman David Morrison said that the allegations “don’t seem to add up” and that the United States has not substantiated its assertions. He said the agency can account for the $2 million to $3 million it spends each year on its North Korea programs. UNDP officials said the dual-use equipment — which included Global Positioning System devices and a portable Tristan 5 spectrometer available on eBay for $5,100 — was part of a weather forecasting system for flood- and drought-prone regions.

“We have been subject to all manner of wild allegations about wide-scale funding diversion,” Morrison said.

U.S. officials said there is no link between criticism of the UNDP and U.S. efforts to restrain North Korean nuclear ambitions. “If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would think that way, but there is really no connection,” said a senior U.S. official who tracks the issue.

Joong Ang Daily
Hwang Young-jin
6/19/2007

Trade volume between North and South Koreas has increased more than threefold since the historical June 15 Declaration in 2000.

With an average increase of 24.3 percent, annually, the total amount will reach $1.7 billion by the end of the year, according to the report on inter-Korean Trade from the Korea International Trade Association, also known as KITA.

Annual trade volume in 2000 was $425 million, which increased to $1.3 billion last year. Trade volume so far this year until May has already reached $563 million, which is a 31.3 percent increase year-on-year.

Besides the overall growth, what is healthy about the trade quality is that commercial trade accounts for almost 70 percent of the total trade. That figure was below 60 in 2000, according to the report. Non-commercial trade refers to aid including items such as rice, clothing and fuel. In other words, they are products that were sent to North Korea free of charge.

“The success of the Kaesong Industrial Complex is the biggest reason [for the rise],” said Roh Sung-ho, head of the Inter-Korean trade support team at KITA. “We are accepting bids for additional space at the Kaesong complex, and three times more companies bid than there are lots available.”

With more and more companies establishing factories in Kaesong, more material is exported from the South, and more manufactured goods return, said Roh.

The value of goods leaving South Korea was higher than the value of goods returning. However, about 30 percent of those goods were aid and were given free of charge. When that is taken into account, the North made more money from its exports to the South than the South made in exports to the North.

This allows the North to record a profit in trade account books.

“The nuclear incident last year, didn’t affect inter-Korean trade. There might be minor falls, but I expect trade volume between the two Koreas to increase for the time being,” Roh said.

Yonhap
6/14/2007

South Korea will take steps to send food aid worth some $20 million to North Korea at the request of a United Nations food agency, the country’s point man on the North said Thursday.

“This is totally different in nature from the provision of rice to the North in the form of a loan,” Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said in a press briefing, conscious of mounting criticism of what it appears to be the government’s sudden about-face in food aid to the North.

South Korea will consult with the World Food Program (WFP) to determine the proposed list and amount of food aid items, which include 24,000 tons of corn, 12,000 tons of bean, 5,000 tons of wheat, 2,000 tons of flour and 1,000 tons of powdered milk, Lee said. It will be the first time since 2004 that South Korea will provide food aid to the North via the WFP.

South Korea resumed shipments of fertilizer and other emergency aid to the North in late March, but withheld the loan of 400,000 tons of rice as an inducement for North Korea to start its nuclear dismantlement under a landmark February 13 agreement.

Besides, the South also decided to send 10,500 tons of rice to the North soon as part of a promise made last year to help the North recover from flood damage, Lee said. “I think it is right to push for this in consideration of cooperation with the North,”

South Korea suspended all types of food and fertilizer aid to North Korea after the North conducted missile tests in July. Resumption of the aid was stymied due to the North’s nuclear bomb test in October, but the two sides agreed to put all inter-Korean projects back on track in early March. Emergency rice aid for flood relief has also been put on hold in tandem with the suspension of the rice loan.

A weak harvest in 2006, disastrous summer flooding and a 75 percent fall in donor assistance have dealt severe blows to the impoverished nation, according to WFP officials.

According to a recent think tank report, North Korea could run short of up to one third of the food it needs this year if South Korea and other countries withhold aid.

Data from the WFP and the Unification Ministry show that the North will need between 5.24 million tons and 6.47 million tons of food this year. Depending on the weather, the availability of fertilizer and other factors, the communist state may only be able to produce 4.3 million tons of food by itself, the report said.

Yonhap
6/11/2007

South Korea will complete shipments of 300,000 tons of fertilizer aid to North Korea late this month, the Unification Minister said Monday.

“As of last week, 233,800 tons of fertilizer had been shipped to North Korea. By June 20, the planned shipments will be completed,” said a ministry official on the usual condition of anonymity.

South Korea resumed shipments of fertilizer and other emergency aid to the North in late March, but it withheld rice aid as an inducement for North Korea to fulfill its promise to shut down its main nuclear reactor as part of the landmark February 13 agreement.

South Korea suspended its food and fertilizer aid to North Korea after the North conducted missile tests in July. Resumption of the aid was blocked due to the North’s nuclear bomb test in October.

According to a recent think tank report, North Korea could run short of up to one third of the food it needs this year if South Korea and other countries withhold aid.

Data from the World Food Program and the Unification Ministry show that the North will need between 5.24 million tons and 6.47 million tons of food this year. Depending on the weather, the availability of fertilizer and other factors, the communist state may only be able to produce 4.3 million tons of food by itself, the report said.

South Korean Ministry of Unification

Exchange of People
Visits to North Korea

During the month of April, the total number of accomplishments for visits to North Korea was 3,281, an increase of 99% from 1,648 in the previous month. It included 3,136 for economic exchanges, 60 for social and cultural exchanges, 81 for humanitarian aid and 4 for family reunion.

The number increased by 222% from 1,019 in April 2006.

The total number of actual visits made during this period was 13,250 an increase of 40% from 9,894 in the previous month. It included 9,886 for economic exchanges, 1,411 for social and cultural exchanges, 1,807 for humanitarian aid and 146 for family reunion.

The number increased by 39.5% from 9,495 during the same period last year.

The total number of Mt. Geumgang tourists during April was 17,805 in 30 trips altogether, an increase of 1.1% from 17,610 in previous month and a 35% decrease from 27,404 during the same period last year.

Contacts with North Koreans

During the month of April, the total number of the accomplishments for inter-Korean contacts was 72, a decrease of 17.2% from 87 in the previous month. It included 46 for economic exchanges, 23 for social and cultural exchanges, 1 for humanitarian aid and 2 for family reunion.

The number increased by 111.8% from 34 during the same period last year.

The total number of actual contacts made during this period was 229, an increase of 1.3% from 226 in the previous month, It included 69 for economic exchanges, 151 for social and cultural exchanges, 2 for humanitarian aid and 7 for family reunion.

The number increased by 218% from 72 during the same period last year.

In April, a total of 178 North Koreans visited to South Korea, including 72 for participating in ITF(International Taekwondo Federation) founding ceremony of Seoul chapter, 72 for Inter- Korean Worker’s Unification Convention on May Day, 32 flight attendants of Koryeo Air.

Inter-Korean Trade

The total volume of inter-Korean trade during April 2007 was $132,869 thousand, showing an 98.5% increase from $66,952 thousand during the same month last year(a 28.8% increase from $103,151 thousand during the previous month).

Trade Type

The total amount of Commercial Transaction were $86,052 thousand (64.8%), showing an 52.9% increase from $56,275 thousand(84.1%) during the same month last year.

The total amount of Non-Commercial Transaction were $46,817 thousand(35.2%), showing an 338.5% increase from $10,677 thousand(15.9%) during the same month last year.

Import & Export Status

Import from North Korea totalled $46,028 thousand, an 51.5% increase from $30,388 thousand during the same month last year(a 21.5% decrease from $58,637 thousand during the previous month).

• Composition by Items (Unit : %)

Agricultural and aquatic products    21
Minerals                                       19.6
Textile products                            28.5
Steel and metal products               18.1
Livlihood supp                              4.5

Export to North Korea totalled $86,841 thousand, an 137.5% increase from $36,564 thousand during the same month last year(a 95.1% increase from $44,514 thousand during the previous month).Composition by Items (Unit : %)

Agricultural and aquatic products 48.7
Textile products 8.8
Steel and metal products 7.9
Machineries 16
Electric and products 7.5

The total volume of General Trade during April 2007 was $26,850 thousand ,a 61.9% increase from $16,589 thousand during the same month last year(a 23.9% decrease from $35,265 thousand in the previous month).The volume of import in General Trade was $25,450 thousand, export was $1,400 thousand and had 94.8%, 5.2% each other.

The composition rate by items had a great part of Minerals(33.8%), Agricultural and Aquatic Products(33.1%), Steel and Metal products(29.3%), Electric and Electronic Products(1.5%)

The total volume of Processing-on-Commission Trade during April 2007 was $19,992 thousand, a 38.8% increase from $14,402 thousand during the same month last year.(a 15.4% decrease from $23,629 thousand in the previous month)

The volume of import in Processing-on-Commission Trade was $14,063 thousand, export was $5,929 thousand and had 70.3%, 29.7% each other.

The composition rate by items had a great part of Textiles(79.6%), Electric and Electronic Products(8.8%), Agricultural and Aquatic Products(8.7%)

The total volume of Economic Cooperation Project during April 2007 was $39,210 thousand, a 55.1% increase from $25,284 thousand during the same month last year(a 12.4% increase from $34,881 thousand in the previous month).

The volume of import in Economic Cooperation Project was $6,513 thousand, export was $32,697 thousand and had 16.6%, 83.4% each other.

The composition rate by items had a great part of Machineries(29.0%), Steel and Metal Products(16.2%), Electric and Electronic Products(14.5%), Livelihood supplies(9.2%)

The total volume of Aid to N.K. during April 2007 was $46,815 thousand, a 338.5% increase from $10,677 thousand during the same month last year(a 399.5% increase from $9,373 thousand in the previous month).

The volume of export was $46,815 thousand.

The composition rate by items had a great part of Chemical Products(84.7%), Machineries(8.3%), Plastic rubber and Leather(2.3%), Agricultural and Aquatic Products(1.2%).

Humanitarian Projects

A. Separated Families

Exchange: # of casses(#of people)

Application for contact 9(14)
Address check 2(7)
Reunion 6(25)
Exchange of letters 36

Daily NK
Kim Yong Hun
6/5/2007

Despite the nuclear test last October, trade between North Korea and China has increased steadily. Rather, signs of North Korea’s economic dependence on China is becoming more obvious.

According to statistics recently released by the Ministry of Unification, “2007 1st Quarter, North Korea’s trade status with China,” trade between the two countries recorded $330mn, a 13.8% increase compared to 2006. While North Korea exported $130mn worth of commodities, an increase of 45% compared to the previous year, imports equaled a total of $200mn, a small decrease of 2.4%.

Last year, trade between both North Korea and China totaled $1,699.6mn recording the highest amount of trade ever in history and even this figure had risen 7.5% compared to the year before.

Analysts argue that North Korea’s economic dependence on China is increasing as a result of sanctions implemented by the international community and delay of the February 13 Agreement.

Even until last year, the trade deficit had increased to $764.17mn, an increase of 29.9% compared to 2005. However, in the first quarter of 2007, the trade deficit seems to have taken a major plummet of 61.3% down to $74mn.

North Korea’s main trade commodities are fuel based including coal and minerals, accounting for $45mn (49% increase to 2006) of exports to China, and 34.7% of total exports. In detail, $33mn of minerals, $12mn of medicine, $7.7mn of steel and $6.2mn of fisheries are exported also.

On the other hand, goods imported into North Korea are again fuel based including petroleum and crude oil and account for $31mn (42.5% decrease to 2006) of imports. Further, machinery equates to $17mn of imports, electric appliances $16mn and filaments $11mn.

In the report, the Ministry of Unification indicated North Korea’s major export to China as coal and minerals and analyzed, “This is the result of China’s increased demands for economic growth.”

The Ministry reported, “The majority of imported goods are energy, electric appliances and machinery” and added, “Demand for these light industry goods have increased from an expansion in North Korea’s consumer market. Imports have risen as a result of materials necessary for industrialization.”

According to a report recently released by the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) “North Korea’s Economy,” the amount of trade that occurred between the U.S. and North Korea barely reached $3,000 in 2006, the lowest figure ever recorded since 1990. The only items exported to North Korea were books and newspapers and no imports were received by the U.S, revealed the CRS.

Furthermore, 2006 recorded an all time low of $130mn trade between Japan and North Korea, undoubtedly a reflection of Japan’s strong implementation of economic sanctions on North Korea. Since 1995, Japan has been supporting North Korea with a total of 1.2mn tons of food aid but suspended the aid relief in late 2004 following the issue of Japanese abductees.

Russia’s exports of minerals and coal to North Korea surged dramatically in 2003 and in 2006, total trade with North Korea recorded $220mn. Hence, Russia became now one of the big three trading partners of North Korea with China, South Korea, the CRS reported.

Yonhap
7/6/2005

North Korea’s food situation is stabilizing and is not as bad as expected in rural areas, a South Korean agricultural scholar who just returned from Pyongyang said Tuesday.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Kwon Tae-jin, senior scholar of the state-run Korea Rural Economic Institute, said, “The peak of food shortage usually comes in June, but I didn’t feel it probably because North Korea released food rations.”

Kwon visited Pyongyang, Chongju in North Pyongan Province, Hamhung in South Hamgyong Province and Paechon in South Hwanghae Province, along with officials of World Vision, an international relief agency, May 25-31.

In March, North Korean officials indicated that North Korea faced a shortfall of 1 million metric tons of food and asked the World Food Program (WFP) to expand its assistance.

Jean-Pierre DeMargerie, head of the WFP’s office in North Korea, said that the situation is not as bad as it was in the 1990s when about one million North Koreans are estimated to have died of hunger, but the food situation has again “started to deteriorate because of June and August flooding of critical cropland and major reductions in WFP and bilateral food assistance.”

Kwon said North Korea would have little difficulty planting rice seedlings this year as reservoirs are full of water in most plains, and tractors and rice-planting machines can work at full capacity.

“In some areas the food situation might be worsening, but agricultural production has stabilized. They seem to be focusing on diversifying their sources of income by planting some cash crops,” he said.

A weak harvest in 2006, disastrous summer flooding and a 75 percent fall in donor assistance dealt severe blows to the impoverished nation, according to WFP officials.

South Korea resumed shipments of fertilizer and emergency aid to the North, but it plans to withhold rice aid as an inducement for North Korea to fulfill its promise to shut down its main nuclear reactor as part of the landmark February 13 agreement.

South Korea suspended its food and fertilizer aid to North Korea after the North conducted missile tests in July. Resumption of the aid was blocked due to the North’s nuclear bomb test in October.

According to a recent think tank report, North Korea could run short of up to one third of the food it needs this year if South Korea and other countries withhold aid.

Data from the WFP and South Korea’s Unification Ministry show that the North will need between 5.24 million tons and 6.47 million tons of food this year. Depending on the weather, the availability of fertilizer and other factors, the communist state may only be able to produce 4.3 million tons of food by itself, the report said.

Kyodo (Hat Tip DPRK Studies)
6/1/2007

China, North Korea’s major food supplier, exported roughly the same amount of grain to the country in the first four months of the year as it did a year earlier, according to recently released Chinese customs figures.

China’s January-April exports of maize, rice and wheat flour to the country totaled 55,446 tons, up 0.6 percent from the same period in 2006, according to the figures.

When compared to 2005, exports were down 66.7 percent.

The World Food Program warned earlier this year that the food shortage in North Korea is worsening.

While North Korea has faced a chronic food shortage, the shortfall had been made up in the past by multilateral aid channeled through the WFP as well as bilateral shipments from countries such as China and South Korea.

But external food aid has gone down recently, leaving the North with a huge food deficit.

China does not explicitly reveal its food assistance to North Korea, and analysts rely on export figures to assess the amount of aid Beijing gives Pyongyang.

Yonhap
5/24/2007

South Korea has decided to put off food shipment to North Korea until the communist country fulfills its promise to shut down its main nuclear reactor, government sources said Thursday.

South Korea had planned to start sending 400,000 tons of rice to the impoverished North late this month in the form of a loan to be paid back over 30 years after a 10-year grace period.

In inter-Korean economic talks in April, however, South Korea made its food aid conditional on the North’s fulfillment of its obligation to start denuclearization steps in return for energy aid within 60 days of a Feb. 13 six-party deal.

The North failed to meet the April 14 deadline, citing a banking dispute with the United States over $25 million of its funds frozen at a Macau bank, Banco Delta Asia. In a separate deal, the North Korean money was unblocked but the communist country has yet to withdraw it.

Hoping that the banking dispute would have been resolved by the end of May, South Korea’s government last Tuesday approved budget spending for the rice aid worth $170 million and raw materials worth $80 million for the North to make soap, footwear and clothing.

“As we made clear in inter-Korean economic talks last month, however, we will wait and see if North Korea will carry out the Feb. 13 agreement,” a government official said, asking that he remain anonymous.

The South Korean government has yet to sign a commercial contract to purchase rice aid for North Korea, so it would be next to impossible to keep the inter-Korean agreement to start shipment in late May.

South Korean officials have expressed frustration over the prolonged financial dispute which was touched off by Washington’s accusations that North Korea laundered illicit money through the Macao bank.

North Korea has been free to withdraw the money but it reportedly insists that it gets it back through a U.S. bank. The U.S. government said last week that arrangements were being made to address the North Korean demand.

Eugene Bell Foundation (Hat tip D.”S.”B.)
207 C Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003   
TEL: 202-393-0645   
FAX: 202-543-2390
For more information:
Alice Jean Suh; alice@eugenebell.org;
+1-202-329-2410

EugeneBell Returns from 2007 Spring Visit to North Korea Initiates Maternal and Infant Care and Children’s Care Programs

The Eugene Bell Foundation earlier this month visited 17 medical institutions in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and launched two groundbreaking community health projects targeting the country’s most vulnerable groups: new mothers and infants, and school-aged children.  From May 1-12, EugeneBell’s chairman, Dr. Stephen Linton, and four delegation members visited city, district, and county medical institutions in North Korea’s South Pyongan Province. All 17 institutions received shipments of assistance as part of EugeneBell’s Partner Package Program 

New Maternal and Infant Care Program and Children’s Care Program

EugeneBell confirmed the new programs’ first deliveries of instructional materials, equipment and supplies at two local hospitals in Sunchon and Anju, cities in South Pyongan Province. These new programs will be implemented in three steps to ensure transparency. Our delegation received agreements from the medical staff at both institutions to implement the first step, with the understanding that progress to the second and third steps will require proof of adherence to EugeneBell’s standards on further visits. These new programs signify groundbreaking advances in EugeneBell’s work. In addition to providing training, equipment and supplies for entire institutions, these programs have also tailored assistance to individual patients. For the first time, EugeneBell will partner with doctors at the most basic level of care in North Korea’s system. All citizens in North Korea are assigned family care physicians. EugeneBell’s new programs will strengthen the ability of family doctors to treat individual patients more effectively and transparently.  “I am very excited about this new opportunity to help insure that pregnant women receive the best care possible from early pregnancy through child-birth,” said Dr. Linton. “We hope to help North Korean caregivers manage child health from the womb all the way through grade school, the most critical period for human development.”  The initial phase of these two new programs received an enthusiastic welcome from hospital staffs. EugeneBell plans to extend this effort to other local hospitals as funding becomes available.

Equipment and Training Upgrades for Local Hospitals Dramatically Improve Local Healthcare

During this visit the delegation was able to evaluate the effectiveness of a program to upgrade diagnostic and surgical capacity at seven out of 40 plus medical facilities supported by EugeneBell. The delegation was impressed at the level of technical sophistication achieved by North Korean caregivers after receiving comprehensive training manuals last year. Through self-study North Korean technicians had, in a surprisingly short time, mastered the use of complex diagnostic equipment and had even made minor repairs.  “It was very impressive,” said Dr. Linton, “to see North Korean technicians operating advanced equipment previously unfamiliar to them. More impressive was the level of cooperation between hospitals that had received the same equipment. When we first started this program, these hospitals were empty because patients had little hope of receiving adequate treatment.  Now that they have new equipment, previously empty hospitals are filled to capacity. Patients wait in line to be examined by the new equipment. “It’s worth the effort to watch these hospitals come back to life.”

Support for Children with Tuberculosis

On this visit the delegation found a new emphasis on treating children with tuberculosis. Several new children’s wards have been established to provide better care for young patients in South Pyongan Province, Nampo City and Pyongyang City. Children are particularly at risk of tuberculosis when their immune systems are weakened by poor nutrition. In response to the new emphasis on childhood tuberculosis by North Korea’s health authorities, EugeneBell will include a system for providing assistance directly to young patients this fall.

Medical Institutions Visited

During May 1st – 12th EugeneBell visited 17 North Korean medical institutions in: South Pyongan Province and Nampo City, South Pyongan Province Tuberculosis Hospital (TBH), Children’s Ward-South Pyongan TBH, South Pyongan Province Children’s Hospital, Anju City Tuberculosis Care Center (TBCC), Pyongsong City TBCC, Bukchang County TBCC, Sunchon City TBCC, Daean County TBCC, Ryonggang County TBCC, Anju City People’s Hospital, Sunchon City People’s Hospital, Daean County People’s Hospital, Chollima County People’s Hospital, Nampo City TBH, Nampo City TBCC, Waudo District People’s Hospital, Hanggu District People’s Hospital 

Total Results of Support in Spring 2007: $ 1,793,717.21 This spring EugeneBell shipped a total of $1,793,717.21 worth of medical goods to 45 medical institutions in North Pyongan Province, South Pyongan Province, Pyongyang City and Nampo City.  

EugeneBell in Action

1. New mother and infant at the Anju City People’s Hospital, part of EugeneBell’s new Maternal and Infant Care Program.

2. Children in Anju City being given health physicals, part of EugeneBell’s new Children’s Care Program.

3. Grade school students are examined at a mobile X-ray vehicle donated through EugeneBell to Nampo Tuberculosis Hospital.

4. Dr. Linton interviews a young patient at the Children’s Tuberculosis Ward at Nampo Tuberculosis Care Center.

5. A patient is examined with a sonogram donated through EugeneBell at Daean People’s Hospital.

   
6. Dr. Linton (left) delivers medical supplies and equipment to Chollima People’s Hospital in South Pyongan Province. In the spring of 2007 EugeneBell shipped almost 1,800,000 dollars of medical assistance to 40 odd medical facilities.

7. Through EugeneBell donors sent 2,200 sets of Patient Necessities Kits to long-term patients in sixteen tuberculosis care centers. EugeneBell does everything possible to identify donors to recipients.