Two Cheers for the U.N.!

After years of silence about human rights, best embodied by disgraced U.N. Special Envoy Maurice Strong and disgraced U.N.H.C.R. chief Ruud Lubbers, the new face of the United Nations on North Korea is Special Rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn, and what an improvement he is over the other two:

“The general sentiment is that the situation in 2005 remains critical. There is a drastic shortfall of food produced in the country and possible humanitarian aid from outside,” the report says. It calls for continued food aid but warns distribution must be carefully monitored.

The report points out that despite severe food shortages, North Korea increased defense spending to US$27.9 million in 2004. It urges the country to cut military spending and use the money to tackle the food crisis and other social problems.

The report says there is still plenty of evidence of torture, detention without trial, public executions and capital punishment for political dissidents. It singles out some particularly brutal cases including the killing of children whose mothers had escaped abroad but were captured and repatriated, in police detention centers and at an occupational training center.

I quibble with Muntarbhorn’s figures on defense spending, which the CIA World Fact Book puts at around $5 billion per year. If I had to guess, it would be that the lower figure is just for new arms procurements, and excludes the costs of maintenance, fuel, and pay. Either way, there’s a degree of witchcraft in determining how much Pyongyang spends on its military.

I’ll emit a third cheer if this far more forthright view translates to any tangible action by the U.N. as a whole or its member states. Right now, my money is on China blocking that.