Hesham I. Al-Waqayan, deputy director general of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development

By Kang Hyun-kyung

KUWAIT CITY ― In 1998, a North Korean diplomat posted in Geneva approached a Kuwaiti official there to ask for help. The North Korean explained in detail the dire water situation facing the residents of the North's capital city and then asked if the Middle Eastern country could possibly help them.

Following the meeting, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development had gathered information about North Korea from the United Nations to study the water situation there. The aid agency's investigation found something alarming.

"In 2003, only 7 percent of Pyongyang residents had access to clean water," Hesham I. Al-Waqayan, deputy director general of Kuwait fund, said on April 19 at his office in Kuwait City. He was part of the clean water project and had travelled to the reclusive country many times on a fact-finding mission.

The Kuwaiti aid agency tapped an Australian consulting firm, dubbed Snowy Mountains Engineering Consultancy, for the feasibility study and then provided $20 million for the water project.

"Three years later, all Pyongyang residents were able to have access to clean water," Al-Waqayan said.

The rewarding moment, however, was short-lived. The Kuwaiti government's goodwill met an unintended consequence — many governments, including South Korea and the United States, accused Kuwait of sponsoring the bellicose North Korean regime. Layered sanctions were in place on North Korea for its development of nuclear weapons and missiles. The regime diverted its financial resources to its weapons of mass destruction program while turning a deaf ear on the outcry from its hungry people.

In the face of criticism from Western diplomats, however, Al-Waqayan stood firm. "I told them that we're trying to help the poor people who were suffering, not the regime," he said.

The veteran aid expert lamented that people outside North Korea had no idea of what's going on inside the Hermit Kingdom.

"I had been there many times and had first-hand experience of how people there were suffering. Some hungry people even ate the roots of the trees and many babies were malnourished."

His explanation, however, didn't convince Western and South Korean diplomats. "Some of them said the North Korean regime would collapse sooner or later," he quoted them as saying. "I told them if the North collapses in five years, I can't wait because right now there are people who are suffering. If it collapses in three years, I can't wait, either," he said.

He noted the Kuwaiti government has not linked certain conditions when it lends its helping hand to poor nations, stressing that its foreign aid comes purely from goodwill and friendship. He was critical of some self-serving donors seeking to take advantage of aid to poor countries to fulfill their foreign policy goals or commercial interests overseas.

"If you help someone in need, they won't forget you. This is very much about the idea of why we are trying to help poor nations," he said. Despite the plunge of oil prices which has put the oil-rich country under pressure, he said Kuwait won't cut its aid budget and its commitment to help others will remain the same.

Established in 1961, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development initially focused on helping Arab countries but later expanded its aid to other regions. Over 100 countries have benefitted from the aid agency's infrastructure projects.