North Korea is experiencing a severe drought that has lead to wide-spread famine, forcing the closed country to turn to international neighbors for help. At Columbia University in New York, North Korean officials sat down with representatives from South Korea, China and the United States to negotiate an end to the Korean War in exchange for humanitarian help. After a background report, Elizabeth Farnsworth discusses the famine and the peace talks with two experts on the Korean Peninsula

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: These pictures, taken by the U.N. World Food Program last month, document severe famine among children in North Korea. The U.N. agency and other relief organizations had warned for months that the agricultural situation in North Korea was worsening. Mismanagement, floods, and, more recently, a 60-day drought have depleted already meager food stocks.

World Food Program officials traveled to nurseries and kindergartens last month and found levels of malnutrition they said were comparable to the mid 1980's drought in Ethiopia. Other reports indicate families are abandoning children, hoping state orphanages will be able to feed them.

CATHERINE BERTINI, Executive Director, World Food Program: The situation in North Korea is getting worse. And we’re seeing children who are just skin and bones, who have had nothing to eat, and who can’t even consume the ground up corn that we have available for them, and so we’re having to find increased amounts of special baby food that’s highly nutritious to be able to feed malnourished children.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: North Korea, which has been off-limits to foreigners for decades, has begun to open its doors, if only to receive food aid from abroad, including $60 million from the United States over the past year and a half. But officials at the World Food Program say much more is needed.

Until last month, North Korea had demanded massive food aid in return for an agreement to enter peace negotiations like those opening today in New York. But the U.S. and South Korea have resisted making that linkage. Today in New York, diplomats from the four nations met only to decide on an agenda and venue for the broader peace talks. Eventually, the negotiations could lead to closer relations between North and South, which would make more food aid possible.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: For more on the famine and the talks to we turn to James Laney, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea during the first term of the Clinton administration--he was in North Korea two weeks ago--and Han Park, Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia. He has made many trips to North Korea, most recently in May this year. Thank you both for being with us.

Mr. Ambassador, what did officials in North Korea say to you about the famine?

JAMES LANEY, Former U.S. Ambassador, South Korea: (Atlanta) They said it was very real, very serious, and they asked for me to carry back a message that they did need a great deal of help. That message we have delivered. As a matter of fact, when we flew from the Northeast down to the Pyongyang on the plane, we could see evidence of the drought that you mentioned earlier in the program. So the problem is compounded not only by two years of flood but also by this year’s drought, as well as by structural problems that have been accumulating for the last several years.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: I know that you weren’t able to travel much in the countryside, but what did you see just where you were that indicated the famine’s severity?

JAMES LANEY: We could not--

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Besides what you saw from the plane.

JAMES LANEY: Right. We could not actually see, and we did not go to places where famine was clearly manifest. The people in Pyongyang, however, an this is the capital city, showed very little vitality or animation. I saw no one smile the whole time we were there as we traveled up and down the main boulevards. And I think this is an indication that even in the capital city, the people who are strong adults were lacking in energy and obviously showed signs of malnutrition.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Ambassador, your trip, itself, was a sign of improved relations between the United States and North Korea, wasn’t it? I know that you weren’t there officially, but you had been ambassador a long time in Seoul, which North Korea has considered its great enemy. Was this significant, your trip, you think? I know you went with Sen. Nunn, ex-Senator Nunn.

JAMES LANEY: Right. Right. Well, we were pleased that the North wanted us to come, and we wanted, as we were briefed in Washington before we went, we wanted to make sure that we communicated the clear position of the United States, which meant no ill will toward the North; that there was a willingness on the part of the United States and the world community to help them if, in fact, they were willing to introduce those structural changes that would make it possible for those--the help to be a continuing boom to them. Of course, we all understand the immediate problem of the shortage of food and the famine. And this is something that must be addressed on an emergency humanitarian basis.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And do you think it will be? Are there signs that there will be larger amounts of aid flowing in?

JAMES LANEY: Well, as you know, just two and a half weeks ago, President Clinton authorized 100,000 tons of grain, new grain. This was included in the sixty-something million dollars total that you mentioned earlier. And that’s a major move. Of course, China has been helping, and we hope that Japan will step up. South Korea has made many overtures to the North, but several years ago, when they gave 250,000 tons, they were so rebuffed and really humiliated--the South was humiliated by the treatment by the North in receiving the grain that it’s made it very difficult for them to step up again, although, they have been using their own Red Cross through China in direct talks with the North on how they might be able to assist them.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Interesting. Han Park, explain for us how all of this, how the famine relates to the talks today in New York.

HAN PARK, University of Georgia: (Atlanta) The famine situation in North Korea can be described as acute, pervasive, and chronic, acute in the sense that everyone is suffering very extremely, and pervasive in the sense that really it’s not really pockets of population. The entire population seems to be suffering. I visited kindergartens, day care centers, schools, universities. They are all affected. Families of government officials, as well as the scholars, they’re all affected, so it’s very pervasive. As the Ambassador has said, the problem is not going to be very easily alleviated right now. It will be chronic in the sense that next year and many years to come, they have to do something drastic in terms of changing the economic structure and inviting foreign investments in various sectors in the food production area. As far as the--

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Now, that’s part of why they have been willing to come to the peace table in New York. How is that related to that? Tie that in for us.

HAN PARK: Yes. In my opinion, the four-party talk is not only symbolically important. I think this is going to be very productive because North Koreans are really serious about it. They do not have any other alternative but to improve relations with the United States and Japan and other countries in the West in order to induce any kind of technical and technology investment. So North Koreans are desperate to the extent that they’re going to be taking these talks opportunities quite seriously. And I think the talks will--in that regard--will be somewhat successful, but it’s going to be tedious process because North Korea has domestic problems. They cannot open up the society very easily. Any kind of interaction with the Western world requires opening up of the society.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Amb. Laney, who is in control in North Korea right now?

JAMES LANEY: Well, I think that Sen. Nunn’s and my impression when we were there was that Kim Jung Il was in charge.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: This is the son of Kim Il-Sung, although he has not formally taken control of the government.

JAMES LANEY: Not formally taken all of the offices, although he’s been head of the army, the military for a good while. Elizabeth, I think there are two things we hope the talks would accomplish. The problem in the Korean Peninsula--one is, of course, the immediate urgent humanitarian issue--the North and the food--the other is the longer, economic problem that bears upon the viability of the regime there and the fragility, the fragile nature of the military situation on the peninsula. Those talks I think were designed, are hoped to lead to the reduction of tension, on the one hand, which, of course, is terribly important, and secondly, of course, to address the longer-term economic and food problems of the North. Both of those are on the table, and when that offer was made over a year ago at Cheju do Island, between the two presidents, the idea was that we would set aside all preconditions and sit down and be able to talk about the common problems of the Korean Peninsula and address them together.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: So Han Park, they’re not just talking about ending the Korean War finally. They’re also actually discussing specific measures to reduce tensions like, for example, ways to communicate better when there are problems in the demilitarized zone?

HAN PARK: Yes. I think what North Koreans really want, however, is not really easing tension, as much as promoting economic development there. They realize that they’re spending an inordinate amount of military spending. They’ve got to reduce that, which necessarily would involve easing tension on the peninsula, perhaps changing the armistice’s treaty to peace accord.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: So you think they want to reduce military tensions because, as you know, the recent defector, who was a very high North Korea official, said just the opposite; that they wanted to make war.

HAN PARK: I think the fact that they want to make war is not--I think it’s a little exaggerated because they know any kind of provocation will be suicidal. They know the massive power of the South and the United States, so I don’t think they will do anything without seriously accepting suicide. So I think they are really interested in reducing the military for the sake of the economy.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Amb. Laney, do you agree with that?

JAMES LANEY: On the whole, yes, I do. I think that our primary concern is that they understand that the United States is closely allied to the South and has been with them now for 45 years and will stand with them on into the future, until the peninsula is tension-free and we move toward some sort of détente or reunification. And that message I think needs to be clearly understood at the top by North Korea. Then we can begin to talk about ways to do things that do not include any idea of military adventurism. On the other hand, the situation is so fraught with tension along the DMZ that we do need devices in order to talk and reduce that tension to avoid the possibility of accidental military activity.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Ambassador, you have lived in South Korea--before you were ambassador, you lived there, you taught there, you really know this area very well. Looking at the situation now, looking at the talks in New York, looking at this famine, do you think there is a chance that there really will be a decrease in tension, more investment in North Korea and all of that? How would you rate the chances?

JAMES LANEY: I wouldn’t want to make it a mathematical thing. One always lives with hope, and I was very much involved in the four-party proposal, and this is something we set forth with a great deal of hope. It’s now been--what--15 months and 17 months, and we’re only now beginning the process. Things have a way of confounding us on the Korean Peninsula, but really the North’s need--I want to say their desperate situation--may make it necessary for them to face a degree of reality that they’ve been unwilling to up until now.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Han Park, we just have a little time left, but how would you answer that question about the prospects now?

HAN PARK: I think prospects of the four-party talks leading to more peaceful resolution is very good. I don’t think it will be swift, but it will take a very long time. Now, all these four parties have vested interest in enhancing security and peace on the peninsula. The United States, of course Japan too, which is not a party in the equation, but all these parties are very interested in promoting peace and stability, and especially North Korea. For domestic reasons, it has to improve relations with the South and the United States. So all in all, I think I’m optimistic about the prospect of the four-party talks.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Thank you both very much for being with us.

JAMES LANEY: Thank you.

HAN PARK: Thank you.