UN expert: North Korea a "state of fear"

Mar 15, 2010, 12:44 GMT

Geneva - The North Korean government runs a 'state of fear' while people are denied sufficient quantities of food, the United Nations human rights expert on the reclusive country said Monday.

Addressing the UN's Human Rights Council, Vitit Muntarbhorn, an independent special rapporteur, said Pyongyang was running a 'distorted' food policy which put the military ahead of ordinary citizens and left many without basic goods.

Aid organizations, including the UN's own World Food Programme, were also being prevented from functioning, in whole or in part, in North Korea, he told the council.

'The non-democratic nature of the power base has created a pervasive 'State of Fear' for the mass base who are not part of the elite,' Muntarbhorn said.

'The national resources are distorted in favour of militarization and the ruling elite,' he added, urging the government to change its 'military first' policy to a one of 'people first' with appropriate budget allocations.

The expert, who was not allowed to visit the country, criticized the justice system in North Korea, saying it was subservient to the state. Impunity was rife and capital punishment was regularly used.

Recent economic policies, including a re-evaluation of the currency, the won, has lead to 'huge inflation' which was further hampering efforts of citizens to wean themselves off the state-controlled mechanisms and provide for their own basic needs, including food.

The North Korean ambassador to the UN in Geneva, refuted the report.

The United States, Japan and the European Union were working in 'conspiracy, in an attempt to eliminate the DPRK in the pretext of human rights.'

The Human Rights Council should instead focus on Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinians, in addition to racist crimes, said the envoy of the secretive ruler of Pyongyang, Kim Jung Il.

At the council, the DPRK received some backing from several allies, including Cuba, China and Syria, though Western countries quickly backed the Muntarbhorn report.

The special expert would be stepping down from his role as rights envoy to the DPRK this year, after six years in the role.