[USFK Forums] Washington earmarks $1 million for North [JoongAng]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Thursday, March 16, 2006

Washington earmarks $1 million for North

The JoongAng Daily

March 15, 2006 ㅡ WASHINGTON ― The U.S. State Department will provide $1 million to the National Endowment for Democracy, which will support North Korea human rights organizations around the world and fund broadcasting services for North Korean residents, an official with the group told the JoongAng Ilbo Monday. The endowment is a nonprofit organization that seeks to strengthen democratic institutions around the world.

At the end of last year, the U.S. Congress decided to grant $1 million from the federal budget for 2006 in order to promote human rights in North Korea, said Louisa Coan Greve, a senior program officer for Asia with the endowment, adding that the funding would be provided through the State Department this summer.

The endowment has been providing funds to South Korean civic groups working to support North Koreans, such as the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, over the past years, Ms. Greve said, but this would be the first time that the organization has received such a large sum from Washington.

The funding, however, is not provided under the North Korea Human Rights Act, established in 2004, Ms. Greve noted. Under the act, the U.S. State Department provided $1.95 million to Freedom House, a U.S.-based rights group, last year.

A rights activist in Washington said the U.S. Congress pressured the State Department to provide funding to the endowment because Washington was reluctant to make the best use of the act.

“The U.S. State Department was allowed to ask for up to $24 million every year to promote human rights in North Korea under the act,” the activist said. “And yet, the State Department has not asked for a penny.”
“The legislature was disappointed, and so it inserted that $1 million into the 2006 budget to support the National Endowment for Democracy,” he explained.

by Kang Chan-ho


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