Canada's Contribution

Canada, like all other FREE countries, has two opposite but equally important contributions to give North Korea,

One is based in compassion and requires hope.
It is our hope that Canada may help to maintain the requisite momentum by becoming more actively involved with the DPRK. North Korean officials are well aware of and appreciative of Canada's role in opening and maintaining relationships with both Cuba and China. They understand and appreciate our special relationship with both the USA and the Republic of Korea, but they regard us as a potentially honest broker.
The Canadian Government could initiate multiple-level approaches, building on non-governmental, academic and business relationships which already exist between Canada and the DPRK. At the very least, Canada could encourage mutual exchange visits, such as the one currently under way. These exchanges could be among cultural, medical, technological and agricultural experts. They might involve academics, athletes, artists, students, diplomats, parliamentarians, or businessmen. Hopefully, they would also involve direct Government contacts and conversations.

The other based in REALITY, and requires leadership and bravery.

What will the US do if North Korea continued to develop nuclear weapons? Will North Korea allow inspections of their suspected nuclear facilities? What does Kim Jong Il expect to achieve from nuclear confrontations?

In addition to the August 31 launching of a Daepodong missile, other events added to the North Korean nuclear issue. The North Korean representatives at the US-DPRK missile meeting, held at New York on October 1, 1998, warned that 'if the United States fail to abide by the Geneva Accord, such as failing to deliver heavy oil, we will consider the Geneva Accord null and void, and proceed to go on our own way."

And some that require compassion, hope, leadership AND bravery...

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, May 20, 2005 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX) -- Canadian Foodgrains Bank is preparing to ship 10,000 tonnes of wheat to North Korea in the coming weeks. Another 1,320 tonnes of soya beans will follow in June. The value of this shipment is $5.3 million."The need for food aid in North Korea has not diminished," says Jim Cornelius, executive director of Canadian Foodgrains Bank. "Critical food shortages are being experienced and our food will help fill urgent needs." "Some people may question why we'd send food into North Korea, given recent reports of their efforts to develop nuclear weapons," continues Cornelius, "but we feel it is our responsibility, as a Christian food aid organization, to help the most vulnerable people in North Korea who do not have enough to eat, particularly children and pregnant and nursing mothers. We cannot stand idly by when people are suffering."