The 70-year-old U.S. based nongovernmental organization (NG0), Heifer Project International (HPI), assists North Korea with domestic livestock such as cows, goats, rabbits and pigeons as well as providing feed and breeding equipment. The organization's motto is "Not a cup, but a cow." This is a program in which individuals donate money to purchase animals that will be sent all over the world to communities in need and then train the recipients to breed the animals and thereby feed themselves. HPI used this method in South Korea after the Korean War in 1953.

HPI's contact with North Korea started when Pyongyang agricultural officials attended an HPI program held in Beijing after major floods hit the North in the mid-1990s. The NGO provided North Korea with its first batch of relief goods in August 1997; 254 goats, 30 tons of feed and breeding equipment. As of May last year, the goats bore 223 kids, and at 220 households; newly born kids are given as a 'gift' to one's neighbors. A total of 120 female goats produced milk, an average of 450kg per each milking season, according to a survey in 1999. The goat milk is supplied mainly to nurseries and schools.

In 1999 HPI supplied North Korea with 323 rabbits, 16 tons of feed, and breeding equipment. The rabbits bore a total of 1,850 young by August last year, one year after the delivery. In July last year, 190 goats were shipped to the North from France via China. In April this year, 500 pairs of pigeons bred for meat were delivered and distributed in North Korea.

"At first we were concerned about issues concerning transparency, because without guides, we were not aloud to come in direct contact with residents of cooperative farms," said Mr. Chen Taiyong, 39, a Chinese national, who is in charge of the HPI Beijing Office, in a telephone interview. This is due to the fact that "Our NGO as well as most others which are active in North Korea dealt with the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee (FDRC), rather than dealing directly with the government. However, with trust being built between our organization and the North Korean authorities, the situation improving," he added.

The livestock offered by HPI are being bred at cooperative farms. Now that the NGO is able to monitor its projects and conduct breeding instructions on the scene, the HPI plans to aid the North with more livestock in the future. "North Koreans who have undergone our training courses display excellent breeding capabilities," says Chen.

"Through a careful observation of the North Korean society, we have to find out where the North Koreans need assistance and what we can do for them," he added. "Helping North Koreans so that they may help themselves is much more important than giving them one-shot aid and then taking a hands off approach."

By Micah Adler mycar@chosun.com