United Nations Radio

The human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Korea -DPRK- remains grave.

That's what the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the DPRK, Vitit Muntarbhorn, told the General Assembly's Social Committee as it continued wide-ranging discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights.

He says the human rights situation in the country could be analyzed along the areas of inequity; disparity; insecurity; immobility; and impunity.

The Special Rapporteur says there is a disparity in terms of access by elites to food compared to the rest of the population.

He says chronic food shortages are due in part to natural disasters as well as mismanagement.

"In 2008, a new agreement was reached between the authorities and the World Food Programme to assist some 6.5 million people. The World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization--FAO- carried out an important food security assessment in June 2008 to assess the situaiton. The initial findings reveal very disquieting features indicating a serious decline of food availability, food accessibility and food consumption."

Mr. Muntarbhorn says particularly worrying is the finding that children affected by malnutrition increased markedly.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

(duration: 1'10")