Vitit Muntarbhorn, a UN official monitoring human rights in North Korea, has reported that the country is critically short on food. Floods this year have damaged their harvest, making an already strained situation even worse. A recent nuclear test by President Kim Jong-Il has led to international sanctions and criticism from long-time allies. “Matters became ultra-complicated because of the missile test in July as well as the nuclear test recently, which prodded various potential contributors to reconsider giving the aid,” Muntarbhorn said. “So there has been this sad and regrettable linkage between the various tests and the impact on the food situation.”

North Korea was due to receive 100,000 tons of food aid from various countries, but now is expected to receive significantly less. For more than a decade, the North has struggled through food shortages which have consistently resulted in the undernourishment of millions of its citizens. The report raises concerns about basic human issues which are often denied to North Koreans, such as the right to life, the right to food, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion. Muntarbhorn says there are many archaic transgressions and discrepancies when it comes to the fundamental rights of North Korea’s people, despite a reformation of the nation’s criminal law.

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