North Korea Has 1.2 Million Troops But Cannot Feed Them

[Achilles]

North Korea Has 1.2 Million Troops But Cannot Feed Them

Sofia Lotto Persio
August 24, 2017

North Korea spends about a quarter of its budget on the armed forces but is reportedly unable to feed its soldiers.

A Japanese filmmaker who is in close contact with citizen journalists inside North Korea said that many of the army’s 1.2 million active troops are “in poor physical condition and in no fit state to fight.”

“For one thing, there are too many soldiers to feed,” Jiro Ishimaru told the Guardian, “and corruption is rife, so that by the time senior military officers have taken their share of food provisions to sell for profit on the private market, there is next to nothing left for ordinary soldiers.”

The documentary maker also said he saw for himself the conditions of the North Korean soldiers, having spotted “clearly undernourished” military personnel washing their uniforms in the Yalu river, near the border with China.


A North Korean soldier guards on the Yalu river north of the border city of Sinuiju, North Korea across from Dandong, Liaoning province, northern China on May 24, 2017 in Dandong, China. A Japanese filmmaker told The Guardian he saw "clearly undernourished" soldiers washing their uniforms in the river. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

A faster rate of economic growth is unable to shield North Korea from the consequences of a drought that, according to U.N. agencies, is the worst to affect the country in 16 years. Analysis from satellite images prompted the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to release a special alert in July, predicting that the harvest in 2017 could fall by 30 percent and calling for agricultural support to the country’s farmers.

Last month, North Korea suddenly cancelled a planned international beer festival without giving any reason, leading to speculation that the drought had caused more trouble than the regime wanted to openly admit.

The World Food Program (WFP), the U.N. food-assistance branch, estimates that approximately 70 percent of the population of nearly 25 million people does not have regular and reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

According to the humanitarian agency, most of the population relies on the government's Public Distribution System to provide staple cereals such as rice, maize, wheat, but the WFP reports these only provide 400 grams of cereals per person per day, lower than the government’s average target of 573 grams.

As part of its work, the WFP collects voluntary donations from foreign countries to deliver basic staple supplies to countries in need. In the beginning of August, Russia delivered 800 tons of wheat flour to North Korea through the WFP, which uses the imported goods to manufacture the fortified foods such as cereals and biscuits that are then distributed in the country.

A WFP spokesperson told Newsweek earlier this month that the agency could not speculate on a possible deterioration of food security in the country since the North Korean government has not requested additional food assistance.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the Taedonggang Combined Fruit Farm in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang on August 18, 2016. KCNA via Reuters

After North Korea tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July in violation of U.N. resolutions, the Security Council unanimously approved a new round of sanctions targeting the country’s export revenues. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the sanctions would “give the North Korean leadership a taste of the deprivation they have chosen to inflict on the North Korean people.”

But as recently-released images of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visiting a military facility show, the regime has no qualms about pursuing increased development of nuclear weapon capacity, no matter the cost.

“In an ordinary country, there would be riots over the food shortages, but not in North Korea,” Ishimaru said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-kor...163115256.html

[lonewolfinoregon]

Yep Japan would have no reason to spread propaganda about NK..

I could make a doc that makes USA look like its starving... Cause there are AMERICANS starving..

[Lenno]

Dozens of worms, parasites removed from escaped North Korean soldier

Associated Press

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Surgeon Lee Cook-jong said he had 'not found parasites this big in the intestines of South Koreans. (Kim In-chul/Yonhap via AP, File)



SEOUL, South Korea – Surgeons treating a North Korean soldier who was severely wounded by gunfire while escaping to South Korea have removed dozens of parasites from his body, including presumed roundworms as long as 11 inches, hospital officials said.





The soldier, whose name and rank have not been disclosed, defected to South Korea last Monday by driving a military jeep near a line that divides the Koreas and then rushing across it under a barrage of bullets. Hospital officials said Saturday that it was too early to tell whether he will make a recovery.

While treating the wounds, surgeons found the large parasites, which may be reflective of poor nutrition and health in North Korea's military, the hospital said. Doctors measured the soldier as being 5 feet, 7 inches tall, but weighing just 132 pounds.



Video
North Korean soldier shot in DMZ while defecting

"I spent more than 20 years of experience as a surgeon, but I have not found parasites this big in the intestines of South Koreans," Lee Cook-jong, who leads the soldier's medical team, told reporters last week.

Lee is a famous trauma specialist who was hailed as a hero in 2011 after conducting life-saving surgeries on the captain of a South Korean freighter ship who was shot during a rescue mission after being held by Somali pirates.

While the North Korean soldier's vital signs were stabilizing on Saturday, he continued to remain unconscious and relying on a breathing machine. After consecutive surgeries to repair internal organ damage and other injuries, no further surgeries are planned as of yet, said Shin Mi-jeong, an official at the Ajou University Medical Center near Seoul.

Video
Eric Shawn reports: Gifts from China for North Korea



South Korea's military said four North Korean soldiers used handguns and AK rifles to fire about 40 rounds at their former comrade, who was hit at least five times. He was found beneath a pile of leaves on the southern side of the Joint Security Area, and South Korean troops crawled there to recover him. A United Nations Command helicopter later transported him to the Ajou hospital.

It remains unclear whether the North Koreans chasing the soldier fired at him even after he crossed into the southern side of the border, which would be a violation of an armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The U.N. Command, which is investigating the incident, postponed a plan to release video footage of the soldier's escape on Thursday.

The Joint Security Area is jointly overseen by the American-led U.N. Command and by North Korea, with South Korean and North Korean border guards facing each other only feetapart. It is located inside the 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone, which forms the de facto border between the Koreas since the Korean War.

[Lenno]

Yep Japan would have no reason to spread propaganda about NK..

I could make a doc that makes USA look like its starving... Cause there are AMERICANS starving..

More news from your Workers Paradise:
Dozens of worms, parasites removed from escaped North Korean soldier



Surgeon Lee Cook-jong said he had 'not found parasites this big in the intestines of South Koreans. (Kim In-chul/Yonhap via AP, File)



SEOUL, South Korea – Surgeons treating a North Korean soldier who was severely wounded by gunfire while escaping to South Korea have removed dozens of parasites from his body, including presumed roundworms as long as 11 inches, hospital officials said.





The soldier, whose name and rank have not been disclosed, defected to South Korea last Monday by driving a military jeep near a line that divides the Koreas and then rushing across it under a barrage of bullets. Hospital officials said Saturday that it was too early to tell whether he will make a recovery.

While treating the wounds, surgeons found the large parasites, which may be reflective of poor nutrition and health in North Korea's military, the hospital said. Doctors measured the soldier as being 5 feet, 7 inches tall, but weighing just 132 pounds.



Video
North Korean soldier shot in DMZ while defecting

"I spent more than 20 years of experience as a surgeon, but I have not found parasites this big in the intestines of South Koreans," Lee Cook-jong, who leads the soldier's medical team, told reporters last week.

Lee is a famous trauma specialist who was hailed as a hero in 2011 after conducting life-saving surgeries on the captain of a South Korean freighter ship who was shot during a rescue mission after being held by Somali pirates.

While the North Korean soldier's vital signs were stabilizing on Saturday, he continued to remain unconscious and relying on a breathing machine. After consecutive surgeries to repair internal organ damage and other injuries, no further surgeries are planned as of yet, said Shin Mi-jeong, an official at the Ajou University Medical Center near Seoul.

Video
Eric Shawn reports: Gifts from China for North Korea



South Korea's military said four North Korean soldiers used handguns and AK rifles to fire about 40 rounds at their former comrade, who was hit at least five times. He was found beneath a pile of leaves on the southern side of the Joint Security Area, and South Korean troops crawled there to recover him. A United Nations Command helicopter later transported him to the Ajou hospital.

It remains unclear whether the North Koreans chasing the soldier fired at him even after he crossed into the southern side of the border, which would be a violation of an armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The U.N. Command, which is investigating the incident, postponed a plan to release video footage of the soldier's escape on Thursday.

The Joint Security Area is jointly overseen by the American-led U.N. Command and by North Korea, with South Korean and North Korean border guards facing each other only feetapart. It is located inside the 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone, which forms the de facto border between the Koreas since the Korean War.

[lonewolfinoregon]

More news from your Workers Paradise:
Dozens of worms, parasites removed from escaped North Korean soldier





Surgeon Lee Cook-jong said he had 'not found parasites this big in the intestines of South Koreans. (Kim In-chul/Yonhap via AP, File)



SEOUL, South Korea – Surgeons treating a North Korean soldier who was severely wounded by gunfire while escaping to South Korea have removed dozens of parasites from his body, including presumed roundworms as long as 11 inches, hospital officials said.





The soldier, whose name and rank have not been disclosed, defected to South Korea last Monday by driving a military jeep near a line that divides the Koreas and then rushing across it under a barrage of bullets. Hospital officials said Saturday that it was too early to tell whether he will make a recovery.

While treating the wounds, surgeons found the large parasites, which may be reflective of poor nutrition and health in North Korea's military, the hospital said. Doctors measured the soldier as being 5 feet, 7 inches tall, but weighing just 132 pounds.



Video
North Korean soldier shot in DMZ while defecting



"I spent more than 20 years of experience as a surgeon, but I have not found parasites this big in the intestines of South Koreans," Lee Cook-jong, who leads the soldier's medical team, told reporters last week.

Lee is a famous trauma specialist who was hailed as a hero in 2011 after conducting life-saving surgeries on the captain of a South Korean freighter ship who was shot during a rescue mission after being held by Somali pirates.

While the North Korean soldier's vital signs were stabilizing on Saturday, he continued to remain unconscious and relying on a breathing machine. After consecutive surgeries to repair internal organ damage and other injuries, no further surgeries are planned as of yet, said Shin Mi-jeong, an official at the Ajou University Medical Center near Seoul.

Video
Eric Shawn reports: Gifts from China for North Korea





South Korea's military said four North Korean soldiers used handguns and AK rifles to fire about 40 rounds at their former comrade, who was hit at least five times. He was found beneath a pile of leaves on the southern side of the Joint Security Area, and South Korean troops crawled there to recover him. A United Nations Command helicopter later transported him to the Ajou hospital.

It remains unclear whether the North Koreans chasing the soldier fired at him even after he crossed into the southern side of the border, which would be a violation of an armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The U.N. Command, which is investigating the incident, postponed a plan to release video footage of the soldier's escape on Thursday.

The Joint Security Area is jointly overseen by the American-led U.N. Command and by North Korea, with South Korean and North Korean border guards facing each other only feetapart. It is located inside the 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone, which forms the de facto border between the Koreas since the Korean War.

Yet these are found in Americans, too...

Bravo for the guy trying to defect, but this is a total propaganda story...