What has UNDP been doing in DPRK?
All member states of the UN with GDP per capita of less than $4700 per annum are eligible for development assistance. DPRK, like several other countries, only chose to request assistance in 1979, having had in place rigid policies of self reliance until that time. Successive submissions in the form of Country Programmes have been made every few years since that time, which, until January 2007, have been approved unconditionally by UNDPs Executive Board of member states. Thus UNDP operates in North Korea because its entire Executive Board, representing all the member states of the United Nations, has mandated it to be there. Amongst other things, UNDPs presence in North Korea since 1979 allowed for a more effective international response to the horrific famines the country experienced in the 1990s. Over the past decade UNDP has funded roughly $3 million in development activities per year, focusing on food production, rural and environmental sector management, economic management and soc
