“..The world had a choice: deliver aid or hold out for political concessions...
For many governments, especially the United States, that choice was never simple. Humanitarian intentions clashed with geopolitical strategy.
Food aid is never just about food. It can be a gesture of goodwill—or a tool of pressure. In the case of North Korea, it became both.
....The delay was more than just bureaucracy...By holding back humanitarian aid,... Western powers hoped to provoke internal unrest—believing that a weakened population might rise against its government.
At the same time, these same governments framed their caution as a principled stand against nuclear aggression. In the media, the narrative was one of firmness and responsibility: refusing to feed a regime that posed a global threat.
But behind this framing, thousands were dying...”
―
Fragkiska Megaloudi,
In the Land of Kim: Two Years in North Korea
