[INTERVIEW] NGOs ‘better at solving some of North Korea’s intractable problems’

Dr. Stephen Linton, the founder and chief of the Eugene Bell Foundation, tells tuberculosis (TB) patients how to collect sputum samples, during the organization’s three-week visit to North Korea from Oct. 16 to Nov. 6. Courtesy of the Eugene Bell Foundation

It is time for the two Koreas to permit private sector exchanges so personal relationships can be developed, the leader of a major NGO says.

“When government officials monopolize and control private level exchanges, it is difficult for people from the South and North to effect real reconciliation,” said Dr. Stephen Linton, who has long led humanitarian efforts focused on North Korea.

Dr. Stephen Linton. Korea Times photo by Jung Da-min

“If the government permits access, all private citizens can develop relationships with North Korea. But if it then suddenly restricts them, real relationships cannot develop. This happens when governments fund private exchanges and then, suddenly, when policy changes, withdraw support.”

Linton is the founder and chairman of the Eugene Bell Foundation. He made the comments during an interview with The Korea Times, Nov. 30, at a Seoul cafe.

“I have seen the ROK government support and then restrict private sector contacts under the Kim Young-sam, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations,” he said. “The Moon Jae-in administration also restricts private sector relationships. Every time there is a change in administration, the policy on private sector relationships changes.”

Linton said the Eugene Bell Foundation could continue its work in North Korea over the past 23 years thanks to donations from individuals. The government contribution was less than 1 percent.

“Eugene Bell is nothing more than an organization that delivers assistance that is provided primarily by private Korean citizens and organizations,” he said. “Our source of support is voluntary contributions, not taxes.”

Eugene Bell Foundation officials and North Korean doctors check people’s height and weight. Courtesy of the Eugene Bell Foundation

Linton said although there are problems the government can solve better than private citizens, TB is not one of them, which is the foundation’s target in North Korea.

Some organizations, particularly large NGOs, hire lobbyists in the hope of receiving funding to implement government-sponsored programs.

This, however, is not the case for a medical program like TB treatment, Linton said. “It is impossible to organize a treatment program with donated goods because you have to order medications directly from manufacturers, sometimes nine months in advance,” he said. “No government funds are available for NGO tuberculosis programs because government funding usually goes to international organizations like the World Health Organization.”

To treat regular TB, four drugs must be used simultaneously to prevent the development of drug resistance, Linton said.

Officials pack patients’ sputum samples. Eugene Bell Foundation

Officials use Gene Expert to diagnose TB. Courtesy of Eugene Bell Foundation

However, there is a smaller group of people with TB who are multi-drug resistant (MDR), meaning they’re resistant to one, two or more of these drugs.

The foundation visits North Korea every six months and has been focusing on MDR TB after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria came to the country in 2008 to provide regular medication for all TB patients. The Global Fund program is administered by UNICEF.

MDR TB requires different treatment and the medicine costs a hundred times more than the usual drugs.

Of about 8,000 new MDR TB patients in North Korea every year, about 1,000 were treated by the Global Fund and 1,200 by the Eugene Bell Foundation so far this year.

But the Global Fund pulled out of North Korea as of June 30, citing “a lack of assurance and risk management for the deployment of resources in the country.”

As the Global Fund-provided medicine will run out at the end of next year, North Korea is trying to fill the gap by establishing the Korean Fund against TB & Malaria (KFTM), an independent organization working closely with the Ministry of Public Health on TB and malaria control plans.

Linton said it was also important to remember North Koreans are working hard to solve their TB problems.

“North Korean doctors are also sacrificing themselves trying to treat TB patients,” he said. “It’s a community effort. It is not me who should get recognition but the people who sacrifice and those who actually donate and who treat patients.”

Patients wave after completing an 18-month TB treatment program. Eugene Bell Foundation

Source:koreatimes.co.kr