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Hunger in North Korea 朝鲜的饥荒 Let them eat maize husks 让他们吃玉米皮 The politics of hunger in a brutal place 野蛮之地的饥荒政治 IT IS the time of year when the previous harvesthas been nearly eaten and the next one has justbeen planted. Time, in other words, to worry aboutNorth Koreas perennially hungry masses. 现在是那种青黄不接的时候。换句话说，是为朝鲜长期存在的吃不上饭的平民感到焦虑的时候了。 North Korea had long grown dependent on food handouts from its estranged brother, SouthKorea, and from the United States. But the Souths current president, Lee Myung-bak, hastaken a tougher line, tying assistance to less provocative behaviour by Kim Jong Ils nuclear-tipped regime. So Mr Kims envoys have travelled further afield of late, reportedly doing therounds of Europe. 长期以来，朝鲜依赖失和的兄弟韩国和美国的救济。但是，韩国现任总统李明博采取了强硬路线，要想得到救助，金正日亲核政权就必须变得更加温和。所以，最近金正日的特使不远万里，据报道现在欧洲进行活动。 The UNs World Food Programme is now preparing to distribute emergency aid to 3.5mNorth Koreans suffering from severe malnutrition. Programme officials are concerned aboutthe possibility of a famine on the scale of the one in the mid-1990s, in which over 1m died.They blame a series of shocks, including the coldest winter in years, widespread flooding andan outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among livestock. Some 297,000 tonnes of cereal and137,000 tonnes of fortified blended food must reach the most vulnerable. | 
