Hidden famine?

I haven't seen this anywhere else, and I've no idea how reliable the reports are, but here's Michael Sheridan in the Sunday Times (£):

A father in North Korea is reported to have been executed by firing squad after murdering his two children to eat them during a “hidden famine” that may have killed more than 10,000 people last year.

In a litany of horrors documented by undercover reporters, another man dug up his grandchild’s corpse for food and a third, driven mad by hunger, boiled his own child and ate the flesh.

The stories were collected by Asia Press, a specialist news agency based in Osaka, Japan, which has a network of “citizen journalists” inside North Korea and is regarded as credible. Dozens of interviews and clandestine reports have led the agency to conclude that “considerable numbers of people” — probably more than 10,000 — have died in North and South Hwanghae provinces, south of Pyongyang, the capital....

In its detailed 12-page report Asia Press identifies reporters and sources by pseudonyms. “Particularly shocking were the numerous testimonies that hit us about cannibalism,” said Jiro Ishimaru of the agency.

Gu Gwang-ho, one of the reporters in North Korea, wrote: “There was an incident when a man was arrested for digging up the grave of his grandchild and eating the remains.”

In May in Haeju, South Hwanghae’s main city, a man who had killed 11 people and sold the meat as pork was executed by firing squad.

“In a village in Chongdan county, a man who went mad with hunger boiled his own child, ate his flesh and was arrested,” said a mid-ranking official of the ruling Korean Workers’ party.

These incidents reportedly took place as Kim Jong-un, 30, marked his ascent to power with a new image, a glamorous wife and two costly rocket launches. Last week he followed these with a defiant pledge to retaliate against the latest UN sanctions by staging a third nuclear weapons test “aimed at the United States”.

Update: the story's made it to the Mail; this time not behind a paywall.

Comments

[Bob-B]

Sounds like Ukraine in the early 30s.

[tolkein]

Did you read the comments!

When that regime falls and the death camps are opened, what will those who turned a blind eye do?

[Mick H]

Did I read the comments at the Mail article? When I first linked, the piece had just gone up so there were no comments. Having looked now, I see I didn't miss much. Comments at the Mail are never worth looking at, in my experience.