UN warns of humanitarian crisis in North Korea: 3.5 million women and children affected
Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - North Korea's population suffers from malnutrition and chronic economic problems; the most affected are children, pregnant women and the elderly, who do not have enough food to survive. This is what emerges from the latest UN report, released by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and dedicated to the human rights situation under North Korea's communist regime. Meanwhile, an official in Seoul confirmed that in the North there are about "150-200 thousand political prisoners, locked up in six work camps around the country”.
The UN document on human rights in North Korea described a worsening humanitarian crisis in the country, “in the period between August 2009 and August 2010”. Information filtering from the Pyongyang regime shows a "suffering of the Korean people," especially "food insecurity and high rates of malnutrition". The urgent cases in need of food include at least 3.5 million children and women (out a population of 24 million people) a situation that is further aggravated by the recurrence of floods and droughts.
The health system is on the verge of bankruptcy, in many areas there is no clean water and the education system is in crisis. North Korea needs at least 3.54 million tones of cereals for human consumption and 1.2 million for seed and industrial use. On the political level there are "extensive restrictions in the field of civil and political rights," including "freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression".
Meanwhile, Hyun In-taek, South Korean Minister for Unification, reports that between 150 and 200 thousand North Koreans are deprived of their liberty because they were considered "political prisoners". Officials in Seoul did not reveal the source, adding that the figure is "what we have at the moment." The detainees are being held in six labour camps scattered around North Korea, among them there are also those who tried to flee the country, but were caught.
Pyongyang says that there are no political prisoners or human rights violations. Activists and experts on North Korean issues argue that political prisoners are forced to work for hours and get only enough food to survive, without the benefit of health care.
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