Humanitarian crisis
Acute famine in North Korea: UN rapporteur warns of deaths
Kim Jong Un, ruler of North Korea, during a weapon systems exhibition
© – / kcna / DPA
There is an acute famine in North Korea, warn the United Nations. In order to avoid deaths, a UN special rapporteur calls for sanctions against the isolated country to be relaxed.
According to the UN, North Korea is experiencing an acute famine that could lead to death in the most physically weak. The UN special rapporteur on human rights issues, Tomas Ojea Quintana, therefore called in a report published on Wednesday for the UN sanctions against Pyongyang to be relaxed. North Korea has also increasingly isolated itself because of the corona pandemic.
UN Food Organization: Gap of 860,000 tons of food in North Korea
In June, the North Korean state broadcaster KCTV admitted that there was a hunger crisis. The ruler Kim Jong Un said that supplying the population with food would be “difficult”. Quintana now stated in his report that the “most vulnerable children and elderly people” are at risk of “starvation”.
Quintana therefore called on the UN Security Council to review and weaken the sanctions imposed on North Korea in order to simplify humanitarian and “life-sustaining” aid. The UN food organization FAO had declared three months ago in North Korea there will be a gap of 860,000 tons of food this year.
On Tuesday, Kim blamed the United States for the military tensions on the Korean peninsula. He said North Korea’s weapons were used for self-defense and were not directed against any particular country. North Korea is subject to international punitive measures because of its nuclear and missile program.