Some 60,000 people, mostly from the South Pyongan province, have reportedly been displaced from their homes by recent floods. Some 30,000 hectares of farmland were also damaged. According to the UN food agency, the floods caused a potential loss of some 100,000 tons of badly needed food. North Korea requires a total of about 5.5 million tons of food annually to feed its population of 23 million.
At a US congressional hearing, one of the six North Korean refugees granted asylum in the United States testified about the atrocities happening in the Stalinist state. The refugee accused a restaurant owner in a North Korean town of preying on young children scavenging for food. The proprietor allegedly bathed the children and then choked them to death. He then butchered them and turned them into a Korean delicacy, claiming the food was made with pork.
In the next fiscal year, the 50,000 winners in the 2007 Diversity Visa Lottery, including six North Koreans, would be awarded permanent residency rights in the United States. This lottery grants 50,000-55,000 permanent residency visas annually to persons from countries with low immigration rates to the US.
Sources: AFP, “North Korean refugees tell of gulag horror," Today Online, 20 July 2006; Yonhap, “6 North Koreans to get US permanent residency," The Korea Times, 20 July 2006; AP, “Some 60,000 N. Koreans displaced in recent heavy rains," Daily News, 25 July 2006