UN Report Calles North Korean Children Malnourished, Pyongyang: Lies

North Korean children illustration. (Wikimedia Commons / Nicor)

JAKARTA - North Korea has denounced a report by the United Nations (UN) on malnutrition experienced by North Korean children, as a lie.

In fact, in a statement issued Tuesday 6 April, North Korea quipped, "they need to see if humanitarian aid can really help".

The response came after a panel of experts reported that nearly 100,000 kindergarten-age children in North Korea lacked access to enriched food due to border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The director of the Child Nutrition Care Research Institute of the North Korean Ministry of Health's Academy of Medical Sciences, immediately responded to this report, stating that it was rejected.

"I, as the person in charge of child nutrition care in our country, firmly reject this information, asserting that it is a lie, completely baseless," the director said in a statement released by the official Korean Central News Agency. .

"In my opinion, it is necessary to seriously study whether humanitarian cooperation under the nameplate of the United Nations and NGOs will really help us and take firm action against entities and organizations that collude with enemy forces," he quipped.

The director added that the nutritional health of children is a top priority for North Korea, even though it is in dire straits and everything is insufficient.

He later criticized the panel of experts for distorting the situation, to give the impression that North Korea was suffering from serious malnutrition in children, denouncing it as an act of black-hearted hostility to tarnish North Korea's image.

Although he did not specify what countermeasures North Korea would take, observers said it was possible that Pyongyang would not accept humanitarian aid activities and stop NGOs from entering the country.

In a survey of NGOs in a recent UN report, several organizations said they had difficulty providing humanitarian assistance to North Koreans, citing border controls and travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Due to Covid-19-related restrictions, the organization assesses that approximately 440,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women will not receive micronutrients, about 95,000 children who are acutely malnourished will not receive the necessary care and about 101,000 kindergarten age children will not. receive food fortification, "said one organization in the report.

To note, North Korea has claimed to be free of the coronavirus, but has maintained strict border controls since the beginning of last year, to ward off an outbreak of a highly contagious disease on its land.