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Famine Struck North Koreans "eating children"
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| PeacefulWarrior |
I can't even begin to believe this. Maybe it's all just propaganda...hopefully.
Famine-struck N Koreans 'eating children'
By Mark Nicol
(Filed: 08/06/2003)
Cannibalism is increasing in North Korea following another poor harvest and a big cut in international food aid, according to refugees who have fled the stricken country.
Aid agencies are alarmed by refugees' reports that children have been killed and corpses cut up by people desperate for food. Requests by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to be allowed access to "farmers' markets", where human meat is said to be traded, have been turned down by Pyongyang, citing "security reasons".
Anyone caught selling human meat faces execution, but in a report compiled by the North Korean Refugees Assistance Fund (NKRAF), one refugee said: "Pieces of 'special' meat are displayed on straw mats for sale. People know where they came from, but they don't talk about it."
FULL ARTICLE |
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| occrider |
I wouldn't doubt that stuff like this is happening in N. Korea. As for why they would refuse international aid escapes me. God forbid they scale down their military or atomic bomb research to feed people ...
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N.Korea Wants Atom Bomb, Smaller Military
Mon June 9, 2003 10:09 AM ET
By Martin Nesirky
SEOUL (Reuters) - Communist North Korea said on Monday it wanted nuclear weapons so it could cut its huge conventional forces and divert funds into an economy foreign analysts say is close to collapse.
North Korea's most explicit public acknowledgement to date that it was seeking to build nuclear weapons also marked the first time Pyongyang had linked its atomic program to cutting its conventional military and saving money.
North Korea has one of the largest armed forces in the world with 1.1 million troops, many of them forward-deployed near the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the Korean peninsula.
In a Korean-language commentary, the North's official KCNA news agency said if the United States did not give up what it described as its hostile policy Pyongyang would have no choice but to have a nuclear deterrent.
"We are not trying to possess a nuclear deterrent in order to blackmail others but we are trying to reduce conventional weapons and divert our human and monetary resources to economic development and improve the living standards of the people," KCNA said. A commentary on KCNA clearly has high-level approval.
The United States' Central Intelligence Agency has said the North processed enough plutonium for one or two atomic bombs during a nuclear program that was frozen in 1994. Late last year, the North restarted a research reactor capable of producing plutonium.
At three-way talks including China, North Korea told the United States in April it already had nuclear weapons.
The KCNA report was issued as South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young-kil told parliament he planned to raise 2004 military spending to prepare for a greater defense burden falling on Seoul under a sweeping overhaul of U.S. forces in the South.
'ABSURD COMMENT'
Yu Suk-ryul, a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul, said the KCNA commentary seemed intended to play up the North's economic difficulties and underscore its desire for bilateral talks with the United States about its nuclear ambitions.
"Because North Korea admitted officially it possesses nuclear weapons, now they can give reasons based on that," he said. Many economists say the North's economy is close to collapse despite -- or even because of -- piecemeal reforms. Many people are malnourished, aid groups say.
There was no immediate reaction from Washington, Seoul or Tokyo, but the United States was unlikely to welcome linkage between nuclear and conventional weapons and cash. All three countries have offered aid if the North drops its nuclear plans.
Paik Jin-hyun, a professor at Seoul National University said the North's arguments were not persuasive.
"No one would believe that North Korea has developed nuclear arms for those reasons," he said. "This is another absurd comment from North Korea."
The administration of President Bush, who has branded North Korea part of an axis of evil with Iran and pre-war Iraq, initially wanted talks with Pyongyang to include conventional forces and weaponry -- not least the thousands of artillery pieces along the DMZ, within easy range of the South's capital Seoul.
But Washington later dropped that precondition, although it remains on the U.S. shopping list. The main focus now is on how to get North Korea to ditch its nuclear program.
In Japan, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun was winding up a four-day visit during which he and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi confirmed they would seek a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis but differed on how to achieve that.
Roh underscored the need for dialogue. But Koizumi, while agreeing it was important to talk, has spoken of a tougher response if Pyongyang escalated the situation.
South Korea's plan to boost military spending to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product next year, from 2.7 percent in 2003, comes after Washington and Seoul agreed last week to remove U.S. forces from the frontier with North Korea.
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| Shakka |
| haven't there been some incidents in China of people eating babies to control population growth so as not to be punished by the gov't? |
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| Galapidate |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
haven't there been some incidents in China of people eating babies to control population growth so as not to be punished by the gov't? |
I heard about that as well, and I wouldn't be surprised. |
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| Project T |
| if that is true, that is ing sick |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
haven't there been some incidents in China of people eating babies to control population growth so as not to be punished by the gov't? |
Why eat them? I assume there's a natural human aversion to eating your own species. So if they just wanted to avoid punishment why not just kill them or burn them as opposed to eating them? |
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| TranceGiant |
| Regime change? |
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| Project T |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Why eat them? I assume there's a natural human aversion to eating your own species. So if they just wanted to avoid punishment why not just kill them or burn them as opposed to eating them? |
i have read that they are often sacrificed in china to bring luck and fortune to a male child. backwards ey?
infact i find that more sick than the canabalism, actually i'm not sure, they're both pretty minging |
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| gibbo |
| The whole thing seems sick to be cannabaism and sacrifices and stuff. However it is amazing and at times shocking what people will do when they reach a point of abolute desperation. |
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| Shakka |
| quote: | Originally posted by gibbo
The whole thing seems sick to be cannabaism and sacrifices and stuff. However it is amazing and at times shocking what people will do when they reach a point of abolute desperation. |
that! Eating babies? I'd rather eat my own than another human being. It's just unfathomable. |
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| gibbo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
that! Eating babies? I'd rather eat my own than another human being. It's just unfathomable. |
Yes i know i feel the same way i'm just saying its sickening and bizzarre and weird what people will do when they are desperate and perhaps it drives them to insanity but ur right the thought of eating babies is utterly vile |
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| Revolution |
| Anyone remember the Donner party? Those people stuck up on a mountain somewhere and they had to resort to cannibalism to survive. Or that soccer team who's plane crashed and they began to eat each other? Cannibalism in extreme situations is not unheard of, altho is still pretty grusome! |
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