US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS4630

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 004630 
 
SIPDIS 
 
ROME PLEASE PASS FODAG; 
SECSTATE PLEASE PASS TO USAID/PPC - DWORKEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2014 
TAGS: EAID, KN, PREL, WFP, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: EU RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE ON DPRK FOOD AID 
 
REF: SECSTATE 229053 
 
Classified By: USEU DEVELOPMENT COUNSELOR PATRICIA J. LERNER, REASONS 1 
.4 B,D 
 
 1.  (C) Summary:  Development Counselor presented reftel 
demarche to Xavier Guillou at DG AIDCO Food Security Unit and 
Maria Castillo-Fernandez, DG RELEX Desk Officer for DPRK. 
Both were receptive to demarche, had been in North Korea 
recently, largely agreed with US assessment of issues with 
some nuanced differences, and welcomed offer of a dialogue on 
this critical issue following the November 13 Troika visit to 
Pyongyang. End Summary. 
 
2.  (C)  DG AIDCO's Food Security Unit person responsible for 
North Korea, Xavier Guillou, is just back in Brussels from a 
three week mission in DPRK.  Guillou largely agrees with the 
US assessment of the situation in North Korea.  He noted the 
EC has not provided food aid for the past two years based on 
a similar assessment of needs, access and competing 
priorities, and given large bilateral contributions from 
China, South Korea and Japan.  As a result the EC has found 
it more cost-effective to focus on agricultural 
rehabilitation (providing agricultural materials) and food 
security programs worth euros 8 million in 2003 and euros 5 
million in 2004.  The budget is not likely to increase to the 
historically high levels of 1995 -96.  On access and 
monitoring, Guillou agreed the situation was extremely 
difficult because of the specific features of the 
distribution system developed in North Korea over the past 
fifty years.  Guillou suggested donor responses are not 
always based on needs alone, given the "massive food aid 
program" which the Japanese are providing, which in his view 
has little to do with "need."  Guillou believes the situation 
is far different from 1996-97 because there has been a 
limited recovery in agricultural production and therefore the 
EC is not convinced food aid is necessarily the most adequate 
tool given the limitations of monitoring, especially after 
ten years. 
 
3.   (C)   DG RELEX Desk Officer for DPRK Maria 
Castillo-Fernandez is well versed in the US position on food 
aid to DPRK and very much aware of the situation in the DPRK 
since the September 15 shift in policy on monitoring food aid 
and the humanitarian situation.  An EU Regional 
Directors-level Troika will be traveling to Pyongyang 
November 13 and will raise the issue of monitoring food aid, 
which is high on the EU agenda.  That said, the EC is not 
aware of any practical implications for EU NGOs as a result 
of DPRK policies.  Castillo-Fernandez was in DPRK recently 
and visited a number of sites.  Her view was that WFP access 
has increased significantly over the last two years.  Her 
sense was that the monitoring has perhaps been too intrusive 
and culturally insensitive.  Questions such as "what do you 
eat?" and "what's in your cabinet?" have provoked strong 
reaction from the local beneficiaries who do not want people 
asking such questions in DPRK, any more than they would like 
that in Europe.   That said, Castillo-Fernandez acknowledged 
that high ranking DPRK officials have used this local 
reaction to impose security restrictions.  She seemed to 
think the September discussion of whether there needed to be 
a CAP (Consolidated Appeals Process) or not, was not 
important as there are plenty of countries where we work 
without a CAP.  Politically, DPRK knows development 
assistance won't come until the nuclear issues are resolved. 
In terms of programming assistance, the EC does not view DPRK 
as an emergency humanitarian situation, but rather as a 
post-emergency transitional situation where development 
assistance may be more what they need. 
 
4.  (C) Castillo-Fernandez noted there are many issues to 
discuss, and proposed to take up some of them in the context 
of the November 9 visit to Brussels of US Special Envoy 
Joseph DeTrani.  She further suggested more detailed food aid 
dialogue following the November 13 Troika visit to Pyongyang, 
when the EU will have a better idea of the situation. 
 
 
SCHNABEL