IR/PS Professor Stephan Haggard Completes Report for U.S. Committee on Human Rights in North Korea
11/28/2005
Paula Cichocka,
Dr. Stephan Haggard, the Lawrence and Sallye Krause Professor of Korea-Pacific Studies at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) recently completed a report for the U.S. Committee on Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) entitled Hunger and Human Rights: the Politics of Famine in North Korea. HRNK is a bi-partisan, not-for-profit human rights organization working to focus attention on human right abuses in the country. The report was a collaborative effort with Dr. Marcus Noland of the Institute for International Economics and showed that ongoing food shortages in North Korea are directly linked to systematic human rights abuses and the absence of political and personal liberties. The report also shows how increased international assistance enabled North Korea to substitute international aid for commercial imports of food; the country pays for only ten percent of imports, allowing them to shift resources to military and other priorities. The report also estimates the substantial diversion of food aid to the market. Haggard and Noland presented testimony before Congress on their findings in May, and a book-length version of the study is currently under review. The full text of the report is available at http://www.hrnk.org. Haggard is currently working with TaiMing Cheung of the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) on a follow-up project on China's economic relationship with North Korea and the effects of Chinese trade and investment on North Korea's economic reforms. Established in 1986, UCSD's Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) is the premiere and only U.S. professional school offering business-savvy training with a focus on policy, economics and technology in the Pacific Rim. IR/PS is shaping the Pacific Century by training its leaders, creating ideas and supporting networks to build a Pacific community. More information on the graduate program and its faculty can be found on its web site at: http://irps.ucsd.edu. IR/PS Media Contact: Paula Cichocka, (858) 534-1465, pcichocka@ucsd.edu
