U.N. envoy urges N. Korea to stop punishing defectors, improve food distribution

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea maintains a "shoot on sight" policy for
people caught trying to flee the impoverished communist country, a United Nations
human rights envoy said in his latest report on conditions in the North, citing
unidentified sources.
Vitit Muntarbhorn, a U.N. Special Rapporteur on North Korean human rights, was to
report the results of his findings later Monday to the 10th session of the U.N.
Human Rights Council underway in Geneva.
"Some sources report a 'shoot on sight' policy with regard to those who seek to
leave the country clandestinely, and violence used against pregnant women
forcibly returned to the country," he said in the report made public on the
agency's Web site before his presentation.
A growing number of North Koreans risk their lives to secretly cross the border
with China, fleeing from hunger and persecution in their homeland. Many end up as
fugitives in China, which classifies them as economic migrants, not refugees. A
lucky few settle in South Korea, mostly after first reaching a third country in
Southeast Asia.
"Over the past year, the situation facing asylum-seekers has become more
stringent. More restrictions have been imposed on departures from the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea and entry into neighboring countries," he said, using
the North's official name.
Muntarbhorn, a Thai professor, appealed for international attention on the North's
human rights abuses.
"The overall picture of human rights implementation in the country is nonetheless
grim, and the situation remains dire and desperate," he said. "The predicament
ensuing from the broad range of systematic and widespread human rights violations
in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea requires urgent attention at all
levels, from national to international."
He urged North Korea to improve its food distribution system, saying poverty of
the urban poor and people in remote areas is expected to continue despite
improved climatic conditions in 2008.
It is estimated that total food production for the period 2008-09 will be 4.21
million tons, with a cereal deficit of 836,000 tons, despite possible commercial
imports of 500,000 tons, according to a joint report by the World Food Program
and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. in late 2008.
"Some 8.7 million people are food insecure and thus need help. Given these
conditions, there is also a need for consistent nutritional assessment of the
people at risk," Muntarbhorn said.
"Ensure effective provision of and access to food and other basic necessities for
those in need of assistance, cooperate constructively with United Nations
agencies and other humanitarian actors on the issue, and allow people to
undertake economic activities to satisfy their basic needs and supplement their
livelihood without State interference," he added.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)