Some images may be shocking to young children. This is information you need to have.
Al Jazeera carried this report, an edited version of a report from Reuters, who somehow got video and interviews from inside North Korea, if we are to grant credence to the report.
In a hospital in Pyongyang, doctors monitor a group of weak infants, some of whom are already showing signs of malnutrition and sickness. They are the most vulnerable members of a population suffering from extreme food shortages.
According to the United Nations, one third of all children under the age of five in North Korea are malnourished, and other countries have become less interested in donating food as the “hermit kingdom” battles efforts to constrain its nuclear program.
The UN World Food Programme says public distributions are running extremely low, and they are only able to help half the people who need aid. Meanwhile, the countries rulers stage outsized military parades, and some wonder whether food donations are being siphoned off to them.
North Korea recently granted a Reuters news crew access to the country, and Al Jazeera’a Khadija Magardie reports on the plight they found.
The longer Reuters report can be viewed here (but I can’t figure out how to embed it at the Bathtub).
Climate-change aggravated severe weather adds to the serious nutrition shortages in North Korea, according to Reuters written reports.
Famine in North Korea is one more vital topic ignored by the presidential and Congressional campaigns, and conservatives in their rush to get Obama out of office.
More:
- Wall Street Journal photo essay on North Korea’s problems
- Sydney Morning Herald mention of the famine
- The Telegraph: “The unpalatable appetites of Kim Jong-il – While his people are left to subsist on boiled grass and ground tree bark, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il indulges shamelessly in only the world’s finest food and wines”
- North Korea’s floods damaged infrastructure; repairs unlikely before harsh winter (Reuters video)
- Soviet professor teaching in South Korea says famine would be much worse in North Korea, except market economy has broken out across North Korea – illegal, but unstoppable
Well I just saw a news report an hour ago that said the collapse of N Korea is unlikely because China won’t allow it to happen. I think its like the buffer zones that were set between the U.S. and the soviet union. You would never want U.S. and Chinese troops too close to each other. But N. Korea says it can go nuclear in 2012 and I think the bottom U.S. line is no you won’t so this could get messy. It would be great if they would just collapse then it would be like Germany with S. Korea handling the unification but again China may have different plans. The result is the N. Korean population will continue to suffer because of politics. Nice link Mark.
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North Korea is the prime example of how a country can suffer if its political leaders work hard to keep their citizens cloaked in ignorance. Here we see a would-be national leader who seems to think keeping citizens ignorant is the right idea.
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This has been going on for a long time. Many of us have thought N Korea would have collapsed by now. The U.S. along with S Korea more than likely would have already had a war with the North but Seoul would be in a danger zone. So its a tough call. Risk the lives of S Koreans and Americans, or wait till N Korea falls on its own. We also have to be concerned about China. We get along as long as we import their products but they are wary about having us as neighbors.
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