Hiding North Korea’s Health Decline
According to a new report by the U.N. Population Fund, the socioeconomic gap between the two Koreas continues to widen:
South Korea’s infant mortality rate ranked seventh in the world with four deaths out of 1,000 births while the North slid to 133rd place from last year’s ranking of 99 with 47 deaths per 1,000.
The Stalinist state recorded a higher death rate of women from complications related to pregnancy and labor with an estimated 370 cases per 100,000 live births for 2009, while South Korea stood at 14 per 100,000.
That’s odd, because I’d previously read somewhere that “The World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies have praised their delivery of basic health services, noting that North Korean children were far better vaccinated than American children, and that life expectancy rates in North Korea surpassed that of South Korea.”
Of course, these are reported statistics. Like the TB numbers, what really goes on in North Korea could be wildly different.
I see Christine Ahn is the gift that keeps on giving.
In all seriousness, I’m starting to imagine her as a Berkeley-based 송ë‘율.
Not a bad analogy. For me, Christine Ahn is what Jon Huer is to Robert Koehler — the person whose ridiculousness I most love holding up before the whole world. Just knowing how much my postings irritate her makes this blog so much more fun to write, especially when the content is often so dreary. It’s also a much-needed public service until the exposure of Ahn’s extreme views drives her to the obscurity she has so justly earned.
Maybe a better analogy than Seong. After all, there’s evidence to suggest Seong is an actual paid NK agent, which is a step beyond mere useful idiocy.
I think there’s more than just evidence about Song in terms of pay-for-pap; I believe he actually admitted taking money, though he claimed it was for innocuous purposes, like setting up a Korean studies program in Germany.
I dare say that the brazenness of the disinformation she uses makes me think she really could be one of those who are on the take.