InterAction, a coalition of 150 humanitarian groups -- including the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) -- has called upon the U.S. government to take urgent action and prevent a major famine among North Korea's 23 million people.
The United Nations has estimated a food shortfall there of up to 2.3 million tons, enough to feed 12 million people for a year.
UMCOR, which has a U.S. license to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea, was arranging in late January for another rice shipment.
The agency also is urging United Methodists to contribute to its effort to ship individual boxes of aid to needy families in North Korea.
Each box contains cooking rice, powdered milk, canned meat, shortening and chocolate bars -- enough to feed a family of five for a week -- along with a small rake and trowel and comb-and- brush set.
EDITORS NOTE: This story is a sidebar for UMNS release #51
Jan. 31, 1997
Please give to UMCOR Advance #226435, North Korea Emergency. Give through your local United Methodist church or send financial contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation. One hundred percent of your gift goes to relief efforts in North Korea. United Methodists' generous giving to the One Great Hour of Sharing, part of their ongoing contribution to mission around the world, supplements the cost of Advance gifts.
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church.
United Methodist Committee on Relief
Room 330, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115
Voice Phone: 212-870-3816; FAX: 212-749-2641
Email: umcor@gbgm-umc.org
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