U.N. Report on Human Rights in North Korea

Human Rights Without Frontiers forwards this report on human rights in North Korea  from the U.N. General Assembly (north_korea_u1_2006.pdf).  On the surface, it’s slathered with diplo-lard, but wipe that off and you can see some fairly strong language.

In addition, it cannot be overstated that the excessive expenditure by the authorities on its defence sector based upon the country’s “military-first” policy causes serious distortions in the national budget and its use of national resources; it is a key impediment to the country’s development process as well as the rights to food and life and other rights.

It also favorably cites a Human Rights Watch report, accusing the regime of food discrimination, although making a comment of its own might have been just too much for the U.N.  It might also prove edifying to the fellow travelers of the National Lawyers’ Guild, more so if folded inside a gelatin capsule and administered as a suppository.  And, there are things we’ve heard a thousand times about massive concentration camps and oppression like nowhere else on earth.

Yet North Korea continues to be a member of the General Assembly in good standing.  How odd. 

At the same time, a new report from Reuters warns that those conditions may worsen this year:

U.S. activist Adrian Hong, whose group Liberty in North Korea helps refugees gain asylum in Western countries, said a recent tour of the region left him “very worried at the moment for the people we have in our shelters.”

China has stepped up security on its border with North Korea, a move that may have represented compliance with U.N. sanctions on illicit weapons trade. But Hong said China was also fencing part of the border in a sign it might be trying to “eliminate the refugee problem by stopping refugees entirely.”

“Once those fences go up and this winter gets difficult, more people are going to try to leave,” said Hong, who talked with recent refugees in China last week and said all relayed accounts of hunger and malnutrition.

Marcus Noland, a scholar at the Institute for International Economics in Washington, said low grain output this year due to floods, appears to reflect hoarding by farmers after the state seized crops last year.

“In certain areas, it’s clear the government just sent the army in to take grain,” said Noland.

History and the political structure of North Korea suggests the army will pass the pain of sanctions on to the population.

“The military is going to get the resources it needs and ultimately the burden of these sanctions is going to be felt by common people,” said Noland.

Justifiable donor fatigue is also a problem.  With North Korea refusing to meet basic standards of transparency, donor nations have only contributed 10% of what the WFP has asked for this year.