Emergency food aid as a means of political persuasion in the North Korean famine

In: Third world quarterly, Band 20, Heft 2, S. 371-386

Abstract

The factors that accentuated international relations in the Korean Peninsula included such exceptional and divers conditions as droughts, floods, famine, communism and humanitarian aid. In understanding international politics under such heterogenous conditions, the institution of gift-giving offers illustrative analogies. Private property in the form of sovereignty and gift-giving in the shape of humanitarian aid provide the templates which render the argumentation and action by both sides - the USA, together with its regional allies, and North Korea - expressive and meaningful. It is further argued that both sides used these institutions in an attempt to orchestrate events according to their own political logic. (DSE/DÜI)