UN aid programme (UNDP) suspends operations in North Korea

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 3/4/07 | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

SEOUL (AFP) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has suspended operations in North Korea following US claims that its funds were being diverted to prop up the communist regime.

In January the US delegate to the UN Mark Wallace charged that North Korea had, since 1998 and with the complicity of UNDP, "systematically perverted" the aid programme "for the benefit of the Kim Jong Il regime, rather than the people of North Korea."

The UNDP said in a statement seen Monday on its website: "As of March 1, 2007, UNDP has no choice but to suspend its operations in North Korea as the necessary conditions set out by the executive board on January 25 have not been met."

The agency's measures include ending all payments in hard currency to Pyongyang and discontinuing sub-contracting of local staff via government recruitment as of March 1, it said.

The agency said its position "could be reconsidered if these circumstances change."

Following the US claims, which were angrily denied by the North, UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for an audit of UN programmes and funding in countries such as North Korea.

The UNDP had earlier suspended 17.9 million dollars in its 2007-09 budget for its operations in North Korea pending the outcome of the inquiry and said it would stop paying workers in hard currency from March 1.

The US House of Representatives introduced a resolution on February 8 calling on the United States to suspend its contributions to UNDP.

In a background report on its website, the UN agency said that over the past decade, it has funded about three million dollars in development activities per year in North Korea.

"There has been no concerns raised that UNDP funds have been diverted to the North Korean nuclear arms programme or otherwise used for purposes other than those intended," it said.

North Korea in January described the US claims as part of a smear campaign by hardliners in Washington, designed to torpedo talks on shutting down its nuclear programme.

[paudio]

The US House of Representatives introduced a resolution on February 8 calling on the United States to suspend its contributions to UNDP.

Did it pass?

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

Interesting. I had lunch with a UNDP staff member a few days ago who had recently worked in North Korea. She told this exact story, that all payments for local staff went to the government and then the government paid the staff less.

In other countries like Afghanistan, UNDP national staff are about the best local talent and are paid directly at some of the best wage rates in the country. Currently no taxes are assessed.

One organization that pays better rates that UNDP is USAID, our own development organization. However, it makes since to pay the Afghans more as even the highest paid Afghans get about 1/10 of the highest international staff.