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Report: N. Koreans starving on 'wild' food
NEW YORK, Thousands of North Koreans are estimated to have starved to death during crippling food shortages in North Korea, a human rights group says.
Shortages of food, made worse by government policies, have left some North Koreans eating barely digestible or even poisonous "wild foods" such as grass and tree bark, an Amnesty International report released Thursday in New York said.
The North Korean diet has traditionally included wild foods such as seaweed and mushrooms, but as food shortages have intensified, the population has come to rely more on wild foods that have no nutritional value, the report said.
The problem is exacerbated by the North Korean government's violation of international law in refusing to cooperate fully with the international community to receive food aid, Amnesty International said.
A World Food Program 2008 assessment found that North Koreans' consumption of wild foods had increased by nearly 20 per cent since 2003-2005.
Thousands are estimated to have starved to death in North Korea as recently as February this year, Amnesty International said.
NEW YORK, Thousands of North Koreans are estimated to have starved to death during crippling food shortages in North Korea, a human rights group says.
Shortages of food, made worse by government policies, have left some North Koreans eating barely digestible or even poisonous "wild foods" such as grass and tree bark, an Amnesty International report released Thursday in New York said.
The North Korean diet has traditionally included wild foods such as seaweed and mushrooms, but as food shortages have intensified, the population has come to rely more on wild foods that have no nutritional value, the report said.
The problem is exacerbated by the North Korean government's violation of international law in refusing to cooperate fully with the international community to receive food aid, Amnesty International said.
A World Food Program 2008 assessment found that North Koreans' consumption of wild foods had increased by nearly 20 per cent since 2003-2005.
Thousands are estimated to have starved to death in North Korea as recently as February this year, Amnesty International said.
