Report Claims North Korean Soldiers Increasingly Malnourished
In the least surprising news of the day North Korean soldiers are reportedly malnourished:
North Korean soldiers suffering from malnutrition are beginning to channel their grievances against the repressive regime, even blaming the inability of the military’s top political official, U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) said Wednesday.
A North Korean resident in Jagang Province told RFA that he was shocked by the news that his son, who entered the army in March, was suffering from malnutrition.
He said the rations given to ordinary soldiers are so poor that most are in a serious state of undernourishment.
The North Korean informant said that since his son went to the army, he ate only boiled corn with a soup of salted wild greens.
Another military source in Ryanggang Province said in the units he knew, the military food supply is not so bad as to cause malnutrition, but added that troops are starving due to deep-rooted corruption and greed for private profits by officers.
More often than not, army commanders embezzle food and even kitchen oil from the military, forcing soldiers into extreme undernourishment, the source said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but it has been speculated before that the malnourishment of North Korean soldiers may be why some of them have gone on crime sprees across the border in China.
