North Korea Allows Relief Work Liaison Officer

As reports come out from North Korea of widespread famine and of hungry refugees fleeing to the former Soviet Union and to China, the usually closed North Korean government has allowed a liaison officer for non-governmental organizations, including church agencies, to be based in Pyongyang where he will coordinate and oversee the arrival of relief aid. Erich Weingartner, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, left for North Korea last weekend.

As NGO Liaison Officer of the United Nations World Food Program, Pyongyang, he will serve as liaison with the North Korean government and international relief agencies. He will report back monthly to the relief agencies and report on each shipment of food or aid, detailing its arrival and distribution. Victor W.C. Hsu, Director of the Church World Service/National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. East Asia and Pacific Office said: "We are excited about Erich Weingartner's appointment -- a hungry child knows no politics."

Source: (Church World Service)

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