In response to the famine that continues to devastate North Korea, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA) office in Switzerland is constructing a bakery in Pyongyang, capital city of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). When operations begin in December 2001, daily production should top 50,000 loaves.

Working in collaboration with state officials, ADRA seeks to improve the supply of food for the 1.5 million residents of the capital city, especially the children. Special provision has been made for delivery of bread to orphanages.

Staff from ADRA Switzerland working in the DPRK will supervise the construction and training of bakery managers and staff. Bakery machines and equipment will be shipped from Europe, with other items to come from China and the Swiss government. The raw materials for bread production will be supplied largely by the World Food Program, a United Nations agency.

ADRA was the first humanitarian agency to respond to the DPRK’s request for aid in 1994, bringing to an end more than 40 years of isolation from the West. Since then ADRA has pursued a number of food initiatives in the DPRK, including shipments of food, seeds, and vitamins, and construction of more than 200 solar kitchens.

Occupying slightly more than half the Korean Peninsula, North Korea’s landscape is dominated by sparsely populated mountains and narrow valleys. Most of the 21.7 million citizens live on about 20 percent of the land.