Date: Friday, February 19, 2021
Time: 10:30-10:40 A.M.
1. Minister's Schedule
Minister Lee In-young will attend the Gender Equality Council headed
by the Prime Minister today at 2 P.M.
In accordance with the United Nations resolution, the meeting will
address the need to put an end to violence against women in areas of
armed conflict, and to expand the role of women in the process of
conflict resolution. Civil exchanges and cooperation between women of
the South and the North, and the protection of female defectors will
also be discussed.
Minister Lee will then hold a video conference with Goodwill
Ambassadors for Peace on the Korean Peninsula at 5 P.M. Last
September, the Ministry appointed six Ambassadors, including
Co-President of the International Peace Bureau Lisa Clark and
Professor Lee Daehoon of SungKongHoe University. These Ambassadors –
whom have contributed in the advancement of peace research, education
and civil movement at home and abroad – have upon appointment worked
in hand with the Ministry to promote public peace diplomacy. Today,
the Minister will discuss ideas in conveying messages of peace on the
Korean Peninsula on the international stage, together with the civil society.
Tomorrow, Minister Lee will attend a webinar held by the Center for
Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii. Minister Lee has been
invited as the first guest to speak at the Center’s new Korea Vision
Dialogue Series, where he will discuss ROK-U.S. cooperation under the
Biden administration. The event will be available online to all
interested audiences.
2. Vice Minister’s Schedule
Vice Minister Suh Ho attended the vice-minister’s conference today
at 8 A.M.
Vice Minister Suh will then attend a session of the National
Assembly's Foreign Affairs & Unification Committee to discuss 23
bills under the jurisdiction of the Unification Ministry, including
amendments to the North Korean Refugees Protection and Settlement
Support Act and the enactment of a law pursuing the Special Economic
Zone for Peace.
3. Q&A (Partial)
Q. Minister Lee noted yesterday at the National Assembly that the
North is likely to be faced with a food shortage of about 1.3 million
tons this year. Could you further elaborate on North Korea’s overall
food situation, and explain any plans the Government has in providing
aid to the North.
A. Though it is hard to accurately measure the degree of food
shortage in the North, the Government estimates that the North will be
short of more than 1 million tons. The Rural Development
Administration analyzes that North Korea’s food production was around
4.4 million tons in 2020, which is 240,000 tons short of last year’s figures.
This marks a decrease of about 200,000 to 300,000 tons compared to
the average food crop production of North Korea over the past five
years, and is most likely due to the overall unfavorable climate
conditions such as flooding and typhoons of last year.
International organizations have reported similar predictions, with
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme
concluding that the North was expecting a food deficit of 1.36 million
tons after conducting on-site surveys in 2019. These UN organizations
believe that North Korea’s harvest in 2020 appeared worse than that of
2019, leading them to presume that food insecurity be more severe. The
U.S. Department of Agriculture also published in its International
Food Security Assessment last month that North Korea will be about 1
million tons short of food supplies.
The ROK Government will closely monitor the North’s food security
situation by referring to the analysis results of domestic and
overseas research institutions, government agencies, and humanitarian organizations.
Regarding plans to provide aid to the North, it is the Government’s
unwavering position that humanitarian issues such as food shortages
should be dealt with regardless of political and military situations.
Based on such grounds, the Government will closely watch the North’s
overall humanitarian demand, such as its need for rice and
fertilizers; consider issues linked to coronavirus situations and the
entry of materials to the North; and ensure that a consensus is
reached among our people. It is the Government’s understanding that
humanitarian cooperation with the North should be pursued in a manner
that assists in practically improving the quality of North Korean
people’s livelihoods, and will review cooperation under such considerations.
However, the Ministry has no specific plans as of now on what, when
or how assistance will be provided to the North.
Q. With the Government’s decision to ease social distancing levels,
does the Ministry have plans to discuss resuming Panmunjeom or DMZ tours?
A. Following the ease of social distancing levels, the Ministry is
reviewing necessary work measures, including those concerning
Panmunjeom tours. However, such reviews need to take note of a wide
range of Covid-related developments and quarantine guidelines provided
by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, and
also calls for negotiations with concerned agencies.
The negotiations are still underway, and we will inform you of any
further developments regarding such issues once a decision is reached.
