The United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) was an economic reconstruction program created by the United Nations to bolster war devastated South Korea. The proposal for the program was drafted by the United States in 1950 after victory by United Nations forces appeared rapidly obtainable. On December 1, 1950, the General Assembly enacted the program. However, Chinese entrance into the Korean War by October 1950 had dispelled the expectation of promptly beginning a rebuilding program. After an armistice was agreed to in 1953, reconstruction began and focused on aiding war refugees and homeless. Nearly USD 150 million was contributed to the program, a majority of funds were paid by South Korea's primary benefactor, the United States, although even developing nations such as Mexico made contributions. The program closed in 1958 after no more funding was made available.
Famous quotes containing the words united, nations and/or agency:
“Of all the nations in the world, the United States was built in nobody’s image. It was the land of the unexpected, of unbounded hope, of ideals, of quest for an unknown perfection. It is all the more unfitting that we should offer ourselves in images. And all the more fitting that the images which we make wittingly or unwittingly to sell America to the world should come back to haunt and curse us.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“As I drew a still fresher soil about the rows with my hoe, I disturbed the ashes of unchronicled nations who in primeval years lived under these heavens, and their small implements of war and hunting were brought to the light of this modern day.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is possible that the telephone has been responsible for more business inefficiency than any other agency except laudanum.... In the old days when you wanted to get in touch with a man you wrote a note, sprinkled it with sand, and gave it to a man on horseback. It probably was delivered within half an hour, depending on how big a lunch the horse had had. But in these busy days of rush-rush-rush, it is sometimes a week before you can catch your man on the telephone.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)