Imagine These Were YOUR Children

North Koreans Selling Human Flesh on Black Market

We have it. The smoking gun. The evidence.
The potential weapon of mass destruction we have been looking for as our pretext of invading Iraq.
There's just one problem - it's in North Korea.

- Jon Stewart

North Korean children suffering from malnutrition

Due to severe famines, human flesh is reportedly being sold on the black market in North Korea. When the sellers are found, they are publicly executed. Starvation in North Korea appears to have reached a point where people are abandoning their humanity. Most North Koreans today are facing a hopeless situation. Kim Jong Il's policy of executing people involved in selling human flesh is another example of his efforts to "control by terror" people who are desperate to survive. The Kim regime appears to be on the verge of collapse.

Testimony of 200 North Korean Refugees

The North Korean people harvest rice and corn in the fall and potatoes in January and February. By the time May and June come around, those crops are scarce and serious famine hits the nation. Since the Iraqi war, North Korea has been under martial law, which has made it impossible for world news media to report on its status. However, a recent report by the North Korean Refugees Assistance Fund (NKRA) contains the testimony of 200 North Korean witnesses and tells of the disastrous starvation the face. The NKRA was established five years ago in China near the border with North Korea as a non-government organisation. The task of the NKRA is to provide assistance for North Korean refugees. Hiroshi Kato, the Secretary General of the NKRA, heads up the organisation, building networks for supplying food and medicine to the North Korean people.

Meats are precious food for the North Koreans. However, on the black farmer's market, live pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits can be found. Sometimes, pork and mutton are also available. Those meats are expensive. Only privileged people such as local executives of the governing Labour Party and high-ranking military officials or smugglers who make money from the trade with China can afford them. In some corners of the black market, pieces of special meat are displayed on straw mats for sale. People know where they came from, however, they do not speak about it. One refugee said:

"Oil from animal meat coagulates and becomes round in shape, however, that of human flesh coagulates and takes the shape of a diamond."

The sale of human flesh is expanding beyond the granary regions. The same witness said,

"If a funeral takes place during the day and the burial is performed that evening, the grave may be dug open and the body stolen before morning. Such incidents happen often. The stolen body is cut into pieces and sold on the black market. This is why people conduct funerals in the evening and bury the dead bodies at midnight. People cannot steal them during the day because other people are watching. Also, the dead bodies lose freshness over night, which makes it difficult to market them."

The North Korean police department has issued an order banning daytime funerals and executes publicly anyone involved in the sale of human flesh.

A 54-year-old North Korean refugee named Lee escaped from his country with his granddaughter. He said:

"My two grandsons, ages 11 and 8, were sacrificed for the survival of other North Koreans, On the day I discovered that my grandsons were missing, I visited other houses searching, but I could not find them. I asked my grandsons' friends where they were. They said that my grandsons disappeared near the black market."

The next day, Mr Lee visited the black market. He met the parents of his grandsons' friends who were missing as well. They too were searching for their sons. They told Mr Lee that their sons disappeared at a noodle restaurant near the black market. Mr Lee reported the problem to the police department. The police raided the noodle restaurant and found human hands and feet in a pot of kimchi, Korean pickles. Police also found human bones in a garbage pit in the backyard. The female owner of the noodle restaurant confessed that she had served noodle to the children and had invited them to stand by a stove to get warm. When they fell asleep, she killed them with an axe.

The murderers were shot in public.

On May 30, 2000, a Mr Lee was arrested by the Chinese law enforcement authority while looking for a ship to South Korea after reaching a Chinese city. According to North Korean criminal law, people who escape from the country are sent to concentration camps for seven years for compulsory labour. They may be sentenced to death without a trial. When the Chinese police forcefully send them back to North Korean, those escapees are treated as political criminals. In labour camps, pregnant women are not allowed to bear their children. Mr Lee said:

"In the camp, there were 94 women, 24 of them pregnant. When I was sent there, eight pregnant women received an injection. Meanwhile, they groaned and started going into labour."

Mr Lee remembers what happened there vividly. The name of the doctor was Lee Min Chol. The doctor asked Mr Lee to help with the childbirths. Mr Lee said:

"I was told to place the newborn babies into a table-sized white wooden box. I saw two dead babies in the box. He also told me to throw the umbilical cords into a garbage can. Two newborn babies were still alive. The doctor told me to separate them from their mothers. When I placed them into the wooden box, they were crying and moving their hands and feet. Then, an old doctor came in and hit them in the head with a scissor. The babies died immediately."

Mr Lee fainted.

He was injected with a restorative and ordered to continue with the work. He found that the remaining six babies were killed. At 8:00pm, the work was over and the wooden box which contained 10 dead babies was removed by a security guard. Mr Lee said:

"After the forceful births, the women were moved to work on cutting grass without being treated for bleeding."

In North Korea, rice distribution is limited to executives of the Labour Party or military forces. Soldiers eat corn and ordinary people eat a gruel made from powdered corn stalks. Humanitarian aid sent by foreign countries does not reach starving North Koreans. The World Food Program (WFP) announced assistance in the form of 510,000-tons of rice and other crops. South Korea and the US pledged food aid of 450,000 tonnes and 100,000 tonnes of crops respectively this year. When food aid from other countries enters North Korea, WFP or non-government organisation staff go to North Korea with the shipments. They try to insure that the food reaches ordinary North Korean citizens. They make videotapes and showed them to the world as proof of performance.

However, the North Koreans can not eat food donated by foreign countries. Mr Kim who lived in a Chinese city said:

"When food aid arrives, people find out about by word of mouth. They can prove that it exists because they see that the food is brought to warehouses. They expect that the food will be rationed to them."

The rationing is actually done. One representative of each family stands in line to receive rice or corn.

"However, when night comes, leaders of people's groups and clerks of the Labour Party visit each home and take all of the rationed food back. They say to each family, 'Let's feed the sons and daughters who are starving and fighting on the front line.'"

The food donated by foreign countries is called "rice for patriots" and transformed into food for military forces.

Ms Pak, a 45-year-old woman farmer, received a sudden visit from six young soldiers one day. They asked her to boil corn that they brought. Several days after, the six soldiers brought a baby pig and asked her to do the same thing. It was obvious that they stole the food since such food is not provided to ordinary soldiers. If caught, they would be court-marshaled. The soldiers gave enough pork to Ms Pak so she would keep her mouth shut and devoured the rest.

When Ms Pak and her family and friends went on a trip to another city by truck, they were stopped by a soldier. They took what was loaded on the truck and their money as a "toll." When they reached their destination, they found that they had lost almost everything. Ms Pak remarked:

"The soldiers were robbers. Also, they kill people. People do not report their crimes to the police. So, they feel that they can take everything from us. When the soldiers brought corn and a pig to me, I didn't want to get involved with them. However, if I did not do it for them, I would have been killed."

Internal Criticism of Kim Jong Il

No matter how desperately North Korean leader Kim Jong Il engages in developing nuclear weapons and threatening Japan, the US and South Korea, it is certain that his one million People's Army is collapsing. Mr Kim is losing control over them. In October of last year, an adjutant captain from a North Korean submarine escaped to China. Also, a couple of high-ranking officers in the North Korean People's Army left their country and sought political asylum in China.

The North Korean People's Army consists of 12 divisions. Headquarters, the military political bureau, and the military logistics bureau keep watch over them. Mr Kato, a military analyst said:

"Each division is financially independent. It has to acquire all of its own equipment, fuel, foods, shoes, uniforms and blankets for their soldiers. The Trading Section of the Logistic Bureau of each division is responsible for financing and distributing these supplies. The Trading Section has enormous power. It has many interests with suppliers including foreign trading firms. Therefore, the Trading Section staff commit fraud in managing foreign currencies or dealing with foreign trading companies. Those who lose power struggles escape to China before they are sent to concentration camps."

According to one Chinese trading businessman in the NKAF report, several North Korean commanders were sent to China in order to purchase military supplies. A Chinese trading firm invited them to dinner. After alcohol had loosened their lips, they said:

"That man is filling his own pockets, but soldiers are starving. He is so involved with women that he doesn't even think of getting comfortable shoes for his soldiers. He is ignoring soldiers who are dying from starvation. He doesn't care."

It was easy for Chinese traders to identify whom they were talking about although they didn't name him. It was the "Supreme Commander-in-Chief Kim Jong Il."

In reality, it is reported that due to starvation, beriberi and epidemics such as tuberculosis are spreading among North Korean soldiers. Five percent of soldiers in each brigade (a troop with 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers) are in the hospital. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is warning that if SARS spreads to North Korea where people's nutrition condition is very bad, it would be disastrous. North Korea is also suffering from gasoline and heavy oil shortages. Therefore, military tanks and vehicles are incapacitated. The North Korean fighting capability has declined enormously. The possibility of North Korea self-destructing is increasing.

Entertainment on Cargo Ship

The Japanese government has embarked on strengthening inspections of the Man Gyong Bong, a North Korean cargo and passenger ship that has regularly sailed between North Korea and Japan for many years. It is not clear why the Japanese government has been ignoring the smuggling of parts for producing nuclear weapons and missiles via this ship although it has had knowledge of it.

The Weekly Post has spoken to Harunori Kobayahi who used to be engaged in getting the North Koreans living in Japan back to their country. Currently, Mr Kobayashi is the chairman of an association that rescues Japanese civilians kept in North Korea. Mr Kobayashi has observed the Man Gyong Bong approximately 150 times. Mr Kobayashi said:

"Since the 1950's, four parties per year have been held aboard the vessel. The parties were from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. About 100 guests from the Japanese Custom Offices, Maritime Safety Agency, Municipal Government Offices and businesses were invited. The Captain and North Korean Labour Party executives on board welcomed the Japanese guests. Also, there were 20 to 30 female receptionists on board." On the party tables, local foods of North Korea were served. A North Korean female receptionist sat at each table. They were members of the "group for pleasure."

Akihide Cho, the Vice President of the North Korean Organisation in Niigata Prefecture, said:

"When I was a member of the North Korean Organisation in 1970's, the members of the Organisation were entertaining the executives of the Niigata branch office of the Japanese Customs Office at hostess bars. They were entertaining them three or four times a year and they only drank Hennessy cognac."

The Customs Bureau of the Ministry of Finance replied to inquiries from The Weekly Post:

"It is true that there were parties aboard the Man Gyong Bong, however, employees of the Japanese Customs Office did not attend the parties."

The Ministry of Finance refuted this. They said the inspectors of the Customs Office simply checked the lists of cargos loaded but did not check them. The entertainment continued until the 1990's. During that period, cash and machines and parts for developing missiles and nuclear weapons were shipped to North Korea aboard the Man Gyong Bong.

Source: weeklypost.com The Weekly Post: News from Japan 2 June - 8 June 2003

Koreans "Selling Human Flesh"

Tokyo - Starving North Koreans are turning to cannibalism to survive, and farmers have been ordered to grow opium for state-endorsed overseas sale, a maker of television documentaries has claimed. Carla Garapedian, producer of Children of the Secret State, a BBC - Channel 4 co-production, said film smuggled out of North Korea and interviews with refugees revealed "acts of unspeakable barbarism not seen since Pol Pot's Cambodia."

"[The] footage is shocking. Starving children abandoned by the state. Orphans thrown into state asylums and left to die," Garapedian wrote in an opinion article in Japan's daily Yomiuri newspaper. Worse, she said, were the drawings of 15-year-old Jang Gil-su, who with his family fled North Korea into China. Though he is still in hiding, Jang has been recording his experiences of everyday life in his former country, where millions of people are understood to have starved to death. The pictures, given to Garapedian by a refugee support group in Seoul, depict families eating pine bark, rats, snakes and anything else to stay alive. One shows a man at a market stall, with Jang captioning it: "Man selling human flesh [saram hoki] at a farmers' market in Hoeroung city."

"All of the North Koreans we interviewed knew about it. Jang's picture of a dismembered child in a cooking pot says more than any of the numbing statistics," Garapedian wrote. Independent verification of the practice is difficult because Hoeroung city is impossible to visit or contact in the secretive country. Garapedian said she had spoken to farmers who claimed to have been barred from growing food and instead ordered to grow opium. "The opium would then be processed by the state into heroin and then sold abroad. The proceeds would go to arm the military."

North Korean officials could not be contacted for comment. - The Australian

Source: The Dominion Wednesday 3 January 2001

I don't know where this particular child is located -
but she (he?) can represent all starving children everywhere.
This is as low as humanity goes - capital punishment of the totally innocent.

-------- Original Message --------
Date: Thu Aug 19 2010
Subject: Unknown child in picture.
From: Chris Maloney
To: ruth@chaos.net.nz

Dear Ruth
I've just come across your site. You have some quite interesting articles especially about child poverty. I wanted to mention the image of the homeless child eating bread crumbs from the floor. You say you don't know where the image came from? This absolutely heartbreaking image was taken in northern Argentina, from the Salta / Jujuy region. I personally know this region, it is poor and undeveloped desert. But not as bad as other places in South America such as Peru, where I spent many years living.

I am a British national that has spent many years in South America with my wife (who is Peruvian). Poverty there is rife, and it's at such as scale that we won't see progress for a long time, not in our lifetimes at least. Their governments are acutely aware of the social problems but their solution to modernising their countries is to build western-style shopping centres and luxury accommodation in the capital cities, pointless communities that are priced the same as those within Europe, which average folk can't afford anyway. They have no idea how to address what it is people actually need.

Coupled this with the fact that their governments only reinvest money into the capital cities, which leaves the rest of the county largely undeveloped. It's this centralized way of development which keeps the rest of the country in a strangle hold.

Just my two pence worth.!

Thanks,
Chris Maloney