By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

UNITED NATIONS – A UN report released yesterday blamed North Korea’s oppressive regime, which leaves its people to live in continual fear of repression by authorities, for the food crisis in North Korea.

The report said 9 million out of 24 million North Koreans are suffering from food shortages, and the World Food Programme is reaching fewer than 2 million people due to countries cutting international aid to North Korea because of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests.

Calling North Korea’s human rights record “abysmal,” UN Special Rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai academic, said, “The freedoms from want, from fear, from discrimination, from persecution and from exploitation are regrettably transgressed with impunity by those authorities, in an astonishing setting of abuse after abuse.”

Malnourished North Korean girls dying of starvation.  Courtesy of bloggers-unite.

He added, “It is the exploitation of the ordinary people which has become the pernicious prerogative of the ruling elite.  This is all the more ironic since it is reported that the economy has improved slightly over the past year, an indication that more resources could be available to help the population.”

The report provided that North Korea’s natural resources were more abundant than its neighbor, South Korea.  South Korean government estimated that undeveloped mineral reserves in North Korea are worth about $5.94 trillion.

Although North Korea’s food crisis usually stem from natural disasters which impact the production, the Thai professor said, “[North Korea] is not poor yet the money is not spent on the people.”

Apparently, North Korea’s exports last year totaled several billion dollars. 

North Korean deputy UN Ambassador Pak Tok-hun rejected the findings in the UN report saying the report is a “politically conspired document full of distortion, lies, falsity, [and] devised by hostile forces.”

North Korea farmers working in the fields.  Courtesy of AP Photo.

Pak added that pressuring his country was “totally useless” and emphasized “the pride in [North Korea’s] system to protect human rights.

Luckily, South Korea’s Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said Friday that South Korea will soon send a limited amount of humanitarian aid to ease North’s food shortage.

For more information, please see:

AFP – UN official slams “abysmal” NKorea rights record – 23 October 2009

AsiaNews – UN: human rights situation in North Korea “very bad” – 23 October 2009

CBC News – N. Korea regime to blame for food crisis: UN – 23 October 2009

Guardian – UN envoy says North Korea should feed its 9 million hungry citizens – 23 October 2009

Straight Times – S.Korean to resume limited aid – 23 October 2009

By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

CHA-AM, Thailand – Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are meeting under heavy security at a beach resort in Cha-Am. Representatives at this regional summit announced their official effort to engage in a new human rights watchdog.

The East Asian Summit group – is made up of member countries: Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Talks at this summit seek to integrally include India, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea and Japan.

After the opening ceremony marking the convened national figureheads, leaders convened to discuss the economy, climate change, disaster management – and human rights. Some say the commission is in part a response to criticism that the region is weak on its efforts to curb human rights abuses by member nations such as Burma. Speculators, however, question whether it will have sufficient powers to make a real difference. Those who are weary on the effort have expressed that they believe the body will do little to deter human rights violators, because it has no power to punish members, according to one source.

Previously, Burma blocked activity by the Asean summit which attempted to call for an amnesty on behalf of detained Burmese democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Furthermore, the organization’s Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, one of the central elements of the legally binding ASEAN Charter signed last year, was a disappointment to many rights advocates when it was limited to the promotion rather than the protection of human rights. Efforts this year have continued to hamper the endeavor. Back in April, Asian leaders were scheduled to hold the summit and propel the human rights initiative, however, anti-government protesters forced the meeting to cancel. Now, five member states -Burma, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore – refused to meet the five individuals chosen by civil rights groups to represent their countries.

Sister Crescencia Lucero, the Franciscan nun who was to have been the Philippines representative, stated, “I am very disappointed, and I see this as not only a rejection of me personally and the organization I represent, but as a rejection of the democratic process in the region.”

Regional politicians sometimes cite the European Union as their model, but their ambitions risk running aground on the vast political and social differences between the states, which range from the absolute monarchy of Brunei to the communist governments of Vietnam and Laos. Debbie Stothard, a human rights activist from Malaysia comments, “the commission has not been designed to be effective and impartial.” It It must be recognized though, the commission is still a considerable milestone for a region ruled by governments as diverse as the thriving democracy in Indonesia, the hermetic communist regime in Laos and the repressive military dictatorship in Myanmar.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Asian leaders launch rights group – October 23, 2009

Wall Street Journal – Summit to Test Japan-China Supremacy  – October 21, 2009

Cambodia News – Thailand Mounts Large Security Operation at Asian Summit – October 22, 2009   

Associated Press – Southeast Asia to have rights monitor – October 23, 2009