Korean Hunger Feeds Fears

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reportedly told a group of high-level party officials last year that the U.S. would invade if the West knew the full extent of food shortages plaguing their country. The Chosun Ilbo, a major South Korean newspaper, claimed in Wednesday editions to have obtained the full text of a speech delivered by Kim in Pyongyang last December 7. The paper reported that Kim told party leaders that food shortages could set off widespread rioting in North Korea, despite the government's strong grip on power, and that even military personnel were hungry. Kim is quoted as saying: "If the U.S. imperialists knew that our military doesn't have food, they would launch an invasion." The validity of the report has not been confirmed, and the South Korean press has a long history of publishing anti-North propaganda. But two years of flooding have wiped out harvests in many areas, producing a genuine food crisis. If Kim and the North Korean government did fear an invasion, it seems they have since changed their thinking. The government recently has asked for international aid to prevent a famine this summer. Either the North became convinced that the U.S. already was fully aware of the North Korean food crisis, or Kim concluded he had more to fear from the enemy within his own borders.