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Show 4 Opinion Getting Into the November 11, 1997 - Tiie Forum it The Deteriorating State of North Korea: A Country Facing Famine combination of five decades of embargo and the isolationist government policies of deceased President Kim II Sung nave left North Korea in economic disarray. The country is facing a grain shortfall of 2.1 million tons. Most citizens live on about 100 grams of rice per day approximately a small handful. The The Nortn Korean government recently admitted that 134 children died of malnutrition last year and according to U.S. intelligence, more than 100,000 could die by the end of this year. Sadly, the situation is the end result of Kim g of his II Sung's sacrificing the people for the last 50 years in a desperate well-bein- attempt to maintain North Korea's econom- ic self reliance. North Korea must swallow its pride and accept monetary and food con- tributions from other countries or let millions of its people starve. Unlike the famines of Eastern Africa and the ethnic cleansing of the former Yugoslavia, the Western world knows little about the catastrophe facing North Korea. Hard-lin- e government officials, reluctant to accept responsibility for their country's economic problems, are slow to accept foreign aid and have denied the Western press access to their country. Western journalists were only recently granted visas to enter North Korea. Their findings are disturbing and grim. In the Sept. 22 issue of Newsweek, writer Carroll Bogert reported on her travels to North Korea with the Connecticut-base- d charity "AmeriCares" to assist in delivering 30 tons of emergency aid. Their visas granted them a stay in the impoverished country, but their access was restricted by the Foreign Ministry to an orphanage, a hospital ana an outpatient clime in the capital city of Pyongyang. What they found inside these institutions graphically illustrates the severity of the situation. Bogert's first stop was the Sunan District Hospital just outsiae Pyongyang. An examination of the facility's dispensary revealed no antibiotics or other basic medicines, only 24-ho- ur Scary dancing: Westminster students let held on Oct. 31 at the DoubleTree Hotel. it all Spirit of the Season a small amount of leaves used for herbal treatments. The hallways of the hospital were dark because electricity was being conserved for use in the operating room. Perhaps most depressing is the fact that the Sunan District Hospital serves 90,000 people in Pyongyang. The team's visit to the orphanage revealed similar conditions. Hungry babies whose parents had already died of starvation were wing motionless in cribs and on the floor. Children were fed rice gruel with metal spoons from metal bowls. Blue disinfectant, supposedly guarding them from disease, is caked on the children's hands and heads. This single orphanage is responsible for the care of 191 children. The actions of charitable organizations swift alone will not save North Korea intervention of foreign governments is a necessity. However, because of mistakes made by the Kim II Sung regime, many countries are reluctant to help. Japan has withheld sending any of it's surplus rice because of a report that North Korean agents kidnaped and held a young Japanese girl in Pyongyang. aid to South Korea will not give large-scal- e its neighbor until the North Korean government attempts to improve relations between the two countries. Even the United States government has mixed sentiment concerning the issue of aid to North Korea. Although fhe U.S. has already given $10 million to North Korea, food aid is dependent upon future progress of political talks, according to Defense Secretary William Cohen. President Clinton's administration has also been accused with North Korea of Congress. What then should world governments do with North Korea's renegade government that refuses to admit guilt or plead for help? The North Korean government over the past 50 years has had it's own best interest in mind. The question now becomes one posed by Catherine Bertini, head of the United Nation's World Food Program: "Is the rest of the world willing to let millions of North Koreans starve to death?" 20-year-- of not being able to cope with seasonal changes. The primary therapy for this disorder is sessions sitting in front of banks of bright lights that simulate the sun of spring and summer. For most of us, the problem is by Peter Van Duser Forum staff writer Is it just me, or are there really more yards and houses decorated for Halloween each year? We haven't seen any dependable sta- tistics yet, but we suspect that each year this holiday becomes more popular in all strata of American society. The merchants certainly like it. Halloween now ranks second only to Christmas for holiday-relate- d merchandise sales. More impressive is that in no part of the country is anyone given time off to enjoy Halloween. We think there are reasons why people are participating more in this holiday and in the festive season that follows close behind. We also think this is a good thing. We are of the opinion that holidays serve important psychological and non-commerc- ial (K ts A , f r r': i , ! no worse than the winter blahs We are only temporarily disabled or depressed. Most of the time we enjoy the repeated family gatherings, the music, the rituals of Halloween and Thanksgiving despite the stress and the extra work they involve. We look forward to this time of year and have a trove of treasured memories of past ' holiday seavVw sons. ' Is it possible that large numbers of holidays holidays that have come down to us in other forms from ages lost in time that Photo by Amy Young occur in ; Halloween: Westminster student Jeremy Griffin at the Halloween party. October, November and December are, in part, a social mechanism to counter this darkest time of the help to overcome the rampant commercialization of this special year? (Even Hanukkah, which time of year. originates from a historical event, is called the Just as with most other annual of Lights.) Perhaps these Festival festivals, Halloween, as well as. were developed to help customs Thanksgiving and Christmas of to maintain good meneach us developed, in part, as a response tal health through the winter by human physical and cultural months. evolution to environmental condiThe holidays also serve as a coptions especially the natural ing mechanism on a larger scale. cycles of the year in the temperate The tradition of holding a festival zones of the earth. celebrate to the harvest goes back The human body (including the of thousands milover years. The festivals brain) has developed were a way of saying thank you lions of years on the earth. Physical and chemical adaptations for food that would last through allow us to eat the foods available the winter, but they were also an occasion for annually around us and to move efficiently links within the community. over the surface of the earth. Ana This still holds true, though we we developed ways to cope with no longer live in an agrarian socithe seasonal changes that marked the turning of each year. ety. When moms and dads take their little monsters from door to October and November are difdoor collecting candy, they likely ferent from May or June. The are learning more about their young science of chronobiology tells us that lower temperatures neighbors than they do in the rest of the year. The trip to grandand shorter days at this time of mother's house may happen only in stimulate changes human year once or twice a year, but we might metabolism and physiology. The make even that little contact if not of blood our and thickening body it weren't for the holidays. hair is accompanied by psychoYou may think that you are too logical changes that we are only too sophisticated, or simof. aware mature, dimly too But this shift in mindset is not busy, for things like 'Trick ply or Treat' or singing Christmas carsmooth individsome and always ols. But we suspect that as far as uals nave problems adapting. In fact, there is a syndrome called your psychological well-bein- g is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and that of the community Photo by Amy Young characterized by depression concerned, you are never too old hang out at the annual ASWC Halloween Dance. This years dance was and should always take time to and severe mood swings that seems to be an extreme example get into the spirit of the holidays. societal functions. Functions that might even well-document- ed . |