The UN Human Rights Council meeting held in Geneva on June 6, 2017. (Image source: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)
[Look at China October 23, 2021 News]October 22,United NationsindependentHuman Rights in North KoreaThe problem expert warned that due toCOVID-19The epidemic has led North Korea to face a worsening hunger crisis, especially children, the elderly and prison detainees may starve to death.
The UN Special Coordinator for Human Rights in North Korea, Quintana said to reporters that even before the outbreak, more than 40% of North Koreans were suffering from precarious food shortages. Many people were already suffering from malnutrition, which hindered their development.
The post of special coordinator is appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council headquartered in Geneva. Its responsibility is to monitor the human rights situation in countries of particular concern.
After the emergence of the COVID-19 epidemic in early 2020, North Korea blocked the border, strictly enforced border closure measures, and restricted travel between cities and regions, making it difficult for people to get jobs and supplies.
The UN Special Coordinator for Human Rights said that the harsh measures taken by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to block the influx of the epidemic included shooting and killing people who tried to enter or leave the country.
On the 22nd, Quintana said in a report to the UN General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee that the prices of staple foods such as rice and corn have risen in some parts of North Korea, and there is a shortage of necessary medicines and medical supplies from China. .
He wrote in his annual report that the number of homeless people and children on the street has increased. Those who returned home from military service had no work and no income, so they had no food and could hardly survive.
He said that North Koreans should not have to choose between fear of hunger and fear of the epidemic.
Quintana is a human rights lawyer from Argentina. He will end his mission as a special coordinator at the end of this year. He said that there is growing concern about whether North Korean prison detainees will be able to get enough food.
In North Korea, detainees often rely on their families for food. Quintana said that North Korea has imposed travel restrictions and the economic situation has become increasingly difficult, so the families of detainees may not be able to help their relatives in custody.
The situation of political prisoners is now even more unclear, because the North Korean government denies the existence of forced labor camps. But Quintana said that in his view, forced labor camps are the most serious human rights situation in North Korea.
Kim Jong Un admits that he is facing a crisis
On July 27, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un spoke very rarely about the threat posed by the COVID-19 epidemic when he delivered a speech at the 7th National Congress of Veterans in the War. This unprecedented world public health crisis and the difficulties caused by long-term sanctions are like the dilemmas of the Korean War. The double blow of the COVID-19 epidemic and international sanctions made Kim Jong Un frankly speaking about the crisis he is facing.
On June 3, the Korea Development Institute pointed out that it is certain that North Korea is currently experiencing a food crisis, and many families are facing malnutrition or food shortages. The agency alleged that North Koreans are now selling their only supplies in exchange for food to fill their stomachs, and people are selling all their basic family assets to buy food. Such things are unsustainable and must be resolved by immediate action.
Song Young-chae, an activist of the NGO Global Alliance to Stop the Korean Massacre, said in an interview with The Telegraph that we learned from informants that the North Korean people are suffering and that they are dying.
Song Yongcai said that the famine they are currently experiencing is directly caused by poor economic management; on the other hand, money is spent on manufacturing nuclear weapons and missiles. Although South Korea has offered to provide food and other assistance, North Korea has not responded.
This South Korean think tank’s report has confirmed the statements of organizations such as the World Food Program (WFP), and other organizations have quoted internal North Korean sources as saying that some entire families in North Korea have starved to death.
Previously, the World Food Program had estimated that before North Korea closed its borders and expelled all aid agencies last year, 10.3 million people (more than 40% of the country’s total population) were already malnourished. There are even reports that many North Korean soldiers are weakened due to hunger, and some have defected, rendering the entire army ineffective.
Editor in charge: Wang Jun
Short URL of this article:
All rights reserved, any form of reprinting requires Chinese authorization. It is strictly forbidden to establish a mirror website.
[Honorary Member Wanted]Streams can merge into the sea, and small kindness can achieve great love. We sincerely recruit 10,000 honorary members from Chinese people around the world: each honorary member only needs to pay one subscription fee per year and become an honorary member of the “Watch China” website, which can help us break through the censorship and blockade and provide at least 10,000 mainland Chinese compatriots Provide independent and true key information to warn them in times of crisis and save them from the great plague and other social distress.
.