Mick Hartley

It must be reported, with no little sadness, that the trip to North Korea by Jimmy Carter and the Elders has not been a resounding success. For the second time running Carter was snubbed by the Dear Leader.

Carter and his Elderly chums were nevertheless keen to continue publicising the view most congenial to their North Korean hosts – that the current problems there are due to their South Korean neighbours, and, of course, the US:

Former President Jimmy Carter, after a 48-hour visit to North Korea, sharply criticized the United States and South Korea on Thursday for their refusal to send humanitarian assistance to the impoverished North, saying their deliberate withholding of food aid amounted to “a human rights violation.”

Mr. Carter, who was not traveling on behalf of the United States government, had been invited to North Korea for discussions with senior political and military officials as a way to perhaps ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which he said were “at rock bottom.”

Mr. Carter, 86, traveled with two other former presidents, Mary Robinson of Ireland and Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, and former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway. All four are members of the Elders, an independent group of world leaders established by Nelson Mandela.

Mrs. Robinson echoed Mr. Carter’s concerns about what she called the “very serious crisis” over food supplies in North Korea because of a harsh winter, severe flooding and an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. She said the withdrawal of American and South Korean food shipments had aggravated the already-dire situation, which had become, she said, “a matter of life-and-death urgency.”

Dr. Brundtland cited a lack of running water in hospitals, even in maternity and pediatric wards, and a deep shortage of what she called “essential medicines.” She said a third of all North Korean children were stunted because of malnourishment, which “also permanently affects their brain development.”

Nothing to do with the Dear Leader and his nightmare regime, then. Or the refusal to take responsibility for the sinking of the Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong-do. Or the fact that the North Koreans have always insisted on taking control of any food aid, ensuring that the vast bulk, if not all of it, goes to the military. Or the recent botched currency reform which decimated any small savings which desperate North Koreans had managed to put aside. 

Unsurprisingly, after this grotesque performance in appeasement, Koreans are not overly impressed. The Daily NK:

During his self-appointed mission to North Korea this week, former President Jimmy Carter engaged in yet another sanctimonious effort to impose his vision onto U.S. policy. His trip was the latest iteration of a predictable pattern of coddling dictators and blaming the shortcomings of those regimes on the United States and its allies.

Once again, Mr. Carter has demonstrated a dangerously naïve misunderstanding of international affairs. Carter’s approach ignores important principles such as adhering to UN resolutions, complying with international law, and not committing unprovoked acts of war.

The Chosun Ilbo:

It was Carter's third trip to the North and the second during which Kim could not be bothered to meet him. Nonetheless, after telling reporters prior to the trip that South Korea is responsible for the North’s food shortage and saying he wanted to meet the reclusive leader, he came back with the message that Kim is "always ready" to hold a summit with President Lee Myung-bak, as if that was a great revelation.

During his stay in Pyongyang, Carter blogged from Pyongyang, "We are hearing consistently throughout our busy schedule here in Pyongyang that the North wants to improve relations with America and is prepared to talk without preconditions to both the U.S. and South Korea on any subject." He wrote that it is a tragedy that the two Koreas have not signed a peace treaty even though more than 60 years has passed since the Korean War. The objective of his visit to Pyongyang was to discuss with Kim Jong-il the scrapping of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. This did not happen, but for some reason he is still parroting the North Korean line that it will not give up its nuclear program without a peace treaty. Did these eminent former leaders really have to travel all the way to Pyongyang to hear a message they could have found on Google?