[imText1]1 out of 4 North Korean children aged 5 were reported unable to reach the average weight standardized by the World Health Organization (WHO), noting that a lack of nutrition is related to severe delays in growth and development.
According to a recent report presented by Professor Yoon Ji Hyun and her team from Seoul National University, The Domestic Science Research Institute, the WHO standardizes the growth of a child up to 5 years as 14.44kg and examined that 27.1% of North Korean children are below this criterion. This is a high figure – 9 times greater than South Korea’s, which was found to be under 3%.
This study by Professor Yoon’s team is a result based on the analysis of data from UNICEF, the World Food Plan and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The rising percentage of growth deformity in North Korean babies and infants indicates a deepening problem. The percentage of underweight babies and infants aged 4~5 is 25%, and the percentage under-built is as much as 50%, which is a severe level compared to the range of South Korean babies and infants growth deformity rate. which is 3~10%.
When analyzing height, the ratio of boys up to the age of 5 that do not reach the standardized WHO level (100.73cm), is no less than 53.2%.
In particular, it was found that effects of boys being vastly underweight was severe. The percentage of infants underweight up to 6 months of age was 10.10%, △ children up to 3 years 28.7%, △ children up to 4 years 25.9%, △ and children up to 5 years 27.1%, with the gap between healthy and malnourished children widening with age.
On the other hand, 30% of women in North Korea aged 20~34 who neglect children 2 years and under are suffering from nutrition deficiency themselves, a number which is 3 times greater than women in South Korea.
In a telephone conversation with the Daily NK, Professor Yoon said “The condition of nutrition deficiency amongst North Korean people is caused from a lack of food” and “Unless the state of nutrition for North Korean babies, infants and mothers is approached politically, it will be difficult for the problem to be resolved easily.”
