State Department spokesman Ned Price. / Photo = Yonhap News
The US State Department pointed out that “North Korea is diverting its people’s resources to the development of illegal nuclear and ballistic missiles.” This is a head-on refutation of North Korea’s opposition to the UN report that its child malnutrition is serious, calling it “absurd fabrication.” Analysts say that the US administration will negotiate with the human rights of the people first in its approach to North Korea’s denuclearization.
According to Free Asia Broadcasting (RFA) on the 7th (local time), a US State Department spokesman said, “North Korea continues to exploit its own people.”
The day before, the head of the Children’s Nutrition Management Research Institute of the North Korean Ministry of Health told the Chosun Central News Agency, “In a report released by a group of experts in the United Nations, many malnourished children received appropriate treatment as our national emergency quarantine measures to prevent the influx of the new coronavirus. It is said that the absurd fabrication data that it has not been able to do is mentioned in a hurry,” he said, and the US government rebutted this. North Korea also emphasized in its speech that “Our state is fully responsible for the health and future of our children.”
The State Department said, “North Korea closed its borders and cut off the supply chain for most humanitarian projects, while also restricting the manpower to execute, monitor, and distribute those projects. I made it” he pointed out. “We are still concerned about the human rights situation in North Korea,” he said. “The United States is working hard to put human rights at the center of its foreign policy.”
Earlier, on the 3rd, an expert panel of the UN Security Council’s Sanctions Committee on North Korea said, “Most of the aid did not reach the target point due to the North Korean regime’s border blockade and domestic travel bans in the name of preventing the spread of Corona 19.” The results of a survey targeting aid organizations were released.
One of the aid organizations said, “Because of COVID-19 restrictions, about 440,000 children, pregnant and nursing mothers will not receive micronutrients, and 95,000 children with severe malnutrition will not receive the necessary treatment.” No nutritional fortified foods will also be delivered.”
A spokesman for the United States Representative to the United Nations told RFA, “North Korea is implementing very strict measures, including blockades of borders on international air and ships,” and said, “We have been quickly exempted from sanctions from the North Korean Sanctions Commission to provide assistance to the residents in need. It is significantly interfering with the efforts of humanitarian organizations and UN agencies that are attempting to do so,” he criticized the North Korean regime.
There are observations that the Biden administration, which has professed to put human rights and democracy first in foreign policy, will also emphasize the human rights of North Koreans in the negotiations for denuclearization.
The US State Department said on the 6th (local time), “North Korea continues to unfairly use resources that should be used by the vulnerable and other residents to develop weapons of mass destruction and missile programs that are prohibited by the military and the United Nations.” “International peace and security Sanctions are being put in place to limit North Korea’s ability to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs that threaten them.”
Reporter Song Young-chan [email protected]
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