11 million NKoreans undernourished – UN

UNITED NATIONS: Food insecurity in North Korea “is at an alarming level,” with nearly half the population — 11 million people — undernourished, the United Nations independent investigator on human rights in the country said.

Tomas Ojea Quintana told the General Assembly’s human rights committee that 140,000 children are estimated to be suffering from “undernutrition,” including 30,000 who “face an increased risk of death.”

Quintana said the government, which has primary responsibility for ensuring access to food, “is violating its human rights obligations due to its failing economic and agricultural policies.”

In addition, he said, “climate conditions, infertile land, natural disasters and the negative impact of sanctions have contributed to further food insecurity.”

More broadly, Quintana said he has seen no improvement in North Korea’s human rights situation during his three years as special rapporteur.

“The country’s economic resources are being diverted away from the essential needs of the people,” he said.

“Pervasive discrimination in the public distribution system means that ordinary citizens, especially farmers and people in rural areas, have not been receiving any rations.”

Quintana said collective farming and the failure to allow farmers to benefit from individual plots of land is further exacerbating food insecurity.

“At the same time, the government has failed to put in place conditions where people can securely engage in trade and exchange in marketplaces without facing criminalization, extortion and other forms of abuse,” he said.

Nonetheless, he added, the vast majority of North Koreans “are now engaged in such market activity for their survival.”

Ironically, he said, the government’s failure to regulate nascent market activity is creating increasing inequality based on wealth, “where only those with money have access to basic rights such as education, health care, freedom of movement and adequate housing.”