Children in East Asia

   by Tiffany Anderson

            

    North Korea is known for its isolation from its region, East Asia. Most people don’t pay attention to the amount of human rights violations that occur, especially with the children.

    There is an estimated 200,000 street children in North Korea. Adults don’t even notice them. Most of these street children’s parents have starved to death. Children are suffering from malnutrition because the government rations the amount of food that each family receives, which is never enough. The lack of food leads to health problems at a young age. Therefore, a North Korean child is three to four inches shorter than one in South Korea.

    North Korea doesn’t speak on their prison camps. In these camps children are treated inhumanely. A report about five children revealed that they were attacked by prison guard dogs, three of them died immediately, the other two they were buried alive by prison guards.

    This country is one of the world’s largest fruit producing countries in the world, yet their people are starving. World Vision was very successful during the hunger crisis, providing 45,000 school children with lunches. The UN on the other hand sent the commission of inquiry to do a yearlong investigation on these camps. Defectors were interviewed but weren’t followed up on because the government didn’t allow it. The human rights council called on the Security Council to take action. When this resolution was presented, it was shut down. That is the closest the UN has gotten to help this country.