ROME, Feb. 14, 01 (CWNews.com/Fides) - North Korea has asked Germany to send them the 400,000 cows destined to be incinerated because of the mad cow disease, so they can use them to feed the starving millions of Koreans.
The North Korean government said it is ready to risk the chance of its people contracting bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), rather than see them continue to suffer starvation in a deadly famine which began in 1994. ARD public broadcasting company said that Pyongyang told the German relief agency Cap Anamur of its request. The agency relayed the request to the ministry of agriculture and forestry in Berlin. Fides sources in South Korea confirm the news.
According to Kathie Zellweger, director of Caritas Hong Kong aid distribution which has worked to help North Koreans since 1994, "This is not advertising. This is a proof of the gravity of the situation in North Korea. Nourishment is totally unbalanced; children particularly suffer from serious protein and fat deficiency. To kill thousands of heads of cattle when there are people dying of hunger is a sin: they should test all the beasts and only kill the infected ones. This request is a signal that North Korea is desperate."
Duncan MacLaren, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis in Rome, made a humanitarian mission to North Korea in 2000. He recalls that "there was a suggestion to send some of the meat, after testing for security, to the poorer peoples of Europe." But he added, "I am doubtful whether it would be lawful. We certainly do not want to poison the people of North Korea or those of the southern hemisphere. I think there are better and safer ways to help them."
Hans Peter Rothlin, international president of Aid to the Church in Need in Germany, said: "Today North Korea starves while we incinerate cows. It is easy for us to run off a long list of reasons why the meat should not be sent." He said he is in favor of the idea if it were possible to give North Korea the guarantee that only healthy meat would be shipped, and this is possible thanks to BSE tests: "There are still millions of Germans who have not stopped consuming beef. Thus we are in favor of making this meat available for the starving population of North Korea."
CWN - Catholic World News
14. februar 2001