Food insecurity in North Korea "is at an alarming level," with nearly half the population 11 million people undernourished, the UN independent investigator on human rights in the country said Tuesday.
Tomas Ojea Quintana told the General Assembly's human rights committee that 140,000 children are estimated to be suffering from "undernutrition," including 30,000 who "face an increased risk of death."
Quintana said the government, which has primary responsibility for ensuring access to food, "is violating its human rights obligations due to its failing economic and agricultural policies."
Nonetheless, he added, the vast majority of North Koreans "are now engaged in such market activity for their survival." Ironically, he said, the government's failure to regulate nascent market activity is creating increasing inequality based on wealth, "where only those with money have access to basic rights such as education, health care, freedom of movement and adequate housing."
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