Hunger crisis grips North Korea as food runs short

Heartbreaking

HAEJU, North Korea — In a pediatric hospital in North Korea's most productive farming province, children lay two to a bed. All showed signs of severe malnutrition: skin infections, patchy hair, listless apathy.

"Their mothers have to bring them here on bicycles," said duty doctor Jang Kum Son in the Yellow Sea port city of Haeju. "We used to have an ambulance but it's completely broken down. One mother traveled 72 kilometers (45 miles). By the time they get here, it's often too late."

It's also getting late for North Korea to get the massive amount of food aid it claims to need before the harsh winter sets in. The country's dysfunctional food-distribution system, rising global commodities prices and sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs had contributed to what appears to be a hunger crisis in the North, even before devastating summer floods and typhoons compounded the emergency.

The regime's appeals for massive food aid have gone mostly unanswered by a skeptical international community. Only 30 percent of a United Nations food aid target for North Korea has been met so far. The United States and South Korea, the two biggest donors before sanctions, have said they won't resume aid until they are satisfied the military-led communist regime won't divert the aid for its own uses and progress is made on disarmament talks.

Every time I read a story like this from North Korea I get mad … mad that we didn’t cut MacArthur loose 60 years ago, mad that the situation wasn’t dealt with after the collapse of the Soviet Union, mad that the Chinese continue to prop this regime up and mad that we continue to play softball with the regime.

Here’s a question for the Gaza flotilla folks … why not sail your ships into Pyongyang or does your love of political theatrics outweigh you humanitarian concerns?

Yeah it's crap but the people need to rise up. There's certainly enough of them.. Yet curiously, there's no shortage of civilians joining the army to effectively protect and prolong the dictatorial rule over their own friends and families.


Go figure!

IRM

reply to post by SirMike


The people of North Korea have to stand up to their government eventually. Once they do, live or die, they will be free from tyranny

reply to post by SirMike


but kim has all the cordon blue he wants.

and people here at ats think we are bad and causing this.

putz you, china, maybe mao made a mistake 60yrs ago but let it go now chumps.

reply to post by InfaRedMan


christ, that's all they know!

you think they even get fox news?

let alone cnn or bsnbc.

no option there.

this is a private domain with nuke power.

you see the map at night of n.korea?

no lights.

check out google earth.


only place on the figgin planet. no lights.


mattter of time.

Originally posted by fooks
reply to post by InfaRedMan

 

christ, that's all they know!
you think they even get fox news?
let alone cnn or bsnbc.

Not that that would be any help whatsoever.

Originally posted by fooks
no option there.

There are always options...

Originally posted by fooks
this is a private domain with nuke power.
you see the map at night of n.korea?
no lights.
check out google earth.
only place on the figgin planet. no lights.

Yeah... I know, but I'm not getting your point.

Originally posted by fooks
mattter of time.

For what?

IRM

reply to post by InfaRedMan


Well to be fair..

People rise up all the time.. they just get gunned down in the fields. There is a level of extreme indoctrination, especially in the larger cities, but in the country it's work or die.

The sad fact of the matter is that the military regime says they need food aid .. and because of political differences we use the hunger as a weapon. Really it's no different than a siege.

reply to post by InfaRedMan


what i'm saying is that the military get's food first.

it's the only gig in town, so to speak.

kim couldn't care less about the populous,

like rockpuck says.


it's a matter of time till kim kicks the bucket and the generals take over and opens the country.

it might be like burma but that is far better than what they have now.

I don't recall big purple patches over someone's face as a traditional sign of malnourishment. Looks like radiation poisoning to me.

We should send some food over, or south Korea. Make obvious though, once we show the people of North Korea that were they're true friends and not Kim it might make them think twice about him.

Originally posted by SirMike
Every time I read a story like this from North Korea I get mad...

Trust me, you're not the only one! And all of this, because some idiot (trying to contain myself in fear of a ban) can't realize that he's nothing but a sniveling POS in which no one, and I mean NO ONE gives a flying F about. He's trying to come off as some big, brave leader when in reality he's just a little coward who is trying to save face at the expense of the innocent men, women and children under his rule.

I just don't know what to do. Really. I know I let my feelings control me at times, but this situation is just so heart breaking. Poor little guys.

Oh, Kim Jong Il, screw you.

Even if the people rose up China would be there in a flash to beat them down. Little kim isn't going anywhere until the chinese decide it's time for him to go. If the people of the world want change start boycotting chinese made goods, as it stands now the chinese are happy with the status quo.

Look at the pics at the link. The children pictured don't look thin or gaunt. .

Get a clue, people. When they start talking about how they need to save the foreigners from themselves, that means they're planning the next invasion.

It's a sad situation in any nation. However, in the case of N.Korea, we are seeing the product of decades of oppressive rule and the problem can't be fixed overnight. The disparity between North and South Korea says it all. Nothing but a latitude line and a different govt. separate them.

Look at the difference between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Same Island and literally two different worlds and two completely different govts.

China owns this problem. Let them solve it. The last thing the Chinese govt. wants is millions of starving N.Koreans flooding their borders.

Originally posted by starviego
I don't recall big purple patches over someone's face as a traditional sign of malnourishment. Looks like radiation poisoning to me.

true but the basic premise of the op is hunger and that has been around as long as i can remember,


in north korea.

funny that south korea doesn't have that problem or even russian and chinese property that borders NK.