Films from North Korea

As many as 400,000 children in North Korea are severely malnourished and in desperate need of help. So far, Mission East has distributed food aid to around 27,000 children, but the needs are enormous. Managing Director Kim Hartzner has recorded these video clips in the North Korean provinces of North Pyongang and Kangwon.

Mission East is the only Danish relief organization that has been given access to distribute food aid in North Korea. We have been invited to do so by the North Korean government, in co-operation with a Finnish partner organization.

Mission East is responsible for the monitoring of the distribution of the aid, in order to ensure that it reaches the children that are in most need.

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Here 2-year old Koh is undergoing a medical examination in one of the two orphanages in Wanson City in Kangwon Province of North Korea where Mission East has distributed food aid since the end of November 2011. Koh ended up in the orphanage in September 2010 following the death of his mother.
In North Korea uncles, aunts or grandparents often take care of orphans, depending on the situation. If the child is still of breastfeeding age, it is handed over to an orphanage. Sometimes, the children are given back to the families when they grow older, but again it depends on the situation.

Koh is marked by long time malnourishment, with sparse hair growth, and most of all, apathy and weakness. A normal boy at his age would act quite differently when examined, and would be livelier. It almost seems as if Koh can be folded together like a doll when examined. Koh was born on April 20th 2009, and at the time of this recording he weighed 7.9 kilograms and measured 79.5 centimeters. These measurements indicate both chronic and acute, moderate malnourishment.

Chronic malnourishment or stunting is seen with the child being of low height for its age, while acute malnourishment is seen by the child being of low weight for its height.

The orphanage where Koh lives is for children under the age of five, and the orphanage houses 403 children, which is an unusually high number.

From February to June 2011 the daily rations of rice given the children were reduced to one sixth of their normal rations, and beyond this the children’s diet mainly consisted of herbs. During the autumn of 2011 the children received sporadic assistance from the UN.
From the end of November 2011, however, Koh and the other children at the orphanage have received a full portion of maize and TopNutri from Mission East, covering their needs for three months.

Overall, it is estimated that almost 400,000 children in North Korea are severely malnourished and in need of emergency food aid. According to the UN, millions of North Koreans just now are in need of outside assistance, as the country is not able to feed the entire population.

Please read the UN report from November 2011 here: http://www.wfp.org/content/dpr-korea-faowfp-crop-and-food-security-assessment-november-2011

North Korea orphanage orphan children UN boy malnurishment