turkey and north korea

North Koreans eye aid in rare trip to Ankara

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News | 9/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | ÜMİT ENGİNSOY

With North Korea suffering from a famine, a Foreign Ministry delegation from that country has asked Ankara for humanitarian aid during a secret visit. Turkish organizations, however, are refraining from providing North Korea ‘multiple-use food,’ i.e. anything that could be used by the North Korean military

A senior North Korean delegation visited Ankara secretly earlier this month mainly to seek humanitarian relief aid on an extremely rare visit marking the second such contact in 10 years, a source familiar with the event said Friday.
The three-man North Korean delegation came on Sept. 7 and 8, the source said, adding that the visit was requested by the North Korean Foreign Ministry and the delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Kung Seok-Woong.
The team met with Turkish Foreign Ministry officials and a Turkish non-governmental organization specialized in foreign aid, one diplomatic source said. In addition to asking for aid, the team gave information about North Korea’s policy on nuclear weapons.
North Korea presently is suffering from a strong famine affecting the nation, and the Turkish non-governmental organization agreed to send baby food to North Korea. Along with several other Western nations, Turkey refuses to send general-purpose food, like rice, fearing that the military will take it in accordance with the country’s “military first” campaign.
The North Korean officials left Turkey one day earlier than planned, the source said. The North Korean team arrived in Turkey after similar talks in several European countries, many of them in Eastern Europe. This was believed to be the second contact between Turkish and North Korean officials in as many as 10 years.
Turkey fought against North Korea in the 1950-1953 Korean War alongside United Nations forces supporting South Korea. Over 1,000 Turkish troops were killed, a more than one-in-seven casualty rate, the highest of the U.N. forces. Both Turkey and Greece, who had the second highest casualty rate in the war, were admitted as NATO members in the early 1950s for their staunch fighting on behalf of the United Nations.
Despite being one of the world’s most isolated countries, North Korea has a strong nuclear weapons program, supported by ballistic missiles. Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said the talks in early September did not represent in any way a softening in Turkey’s position toward North Korea’s nuclear approach. North Korea also is accused by the United States of trying to export its nuclear capabilities.