Kim should admit relief agencies
North Korea is again asking for humanitarian aid as the country reels from the effects of devastating floods. Several relief agencies and the UN are preparing to provide food and water.
How should the world respond? What can North Korea do this time to break the pattern of distrust?
In October last year, the UN humanitarian chief discussed with North Korea's deputy foreign affairs minister the provision of aid for what appeared to be some progress towards dismantling its nuclear programme.
Officially, there is no link between politics and humanitarian aid, but North Korea's response to food aid in the past has made agencies reluctant to rush in. In April 2011, the UN World Food Programme appealed for US$218 million in emergency aid.
Only a third of that amount was pledged, amid tension over North Korea's provocative behaviour and questions about whether it was diverting aid to its military and ruling elite. But has the coming of Kim Jong-un changed all that?
At a meeting with Wang Jiarui of China's Communist Party Central Committee, Kim is reported to have said, 'Developing the economy and improving livelihoods so that the Korean people lead happy and civilised lives is the goal the Korean Workers' Party is struggling towards' ('Kim hosts China envoy, spurring reform hopes', August 4).