Så här skriver UNICEF angående barns situation
"Despite improvements in the past several years, rates of chronic malnutrition and underweight among children in DPR Korea remain high. Food shortages are an ongoing concern, threatening to undermine a decade of progress in the battle against malnutrition. The country also suffers from widespread shortages of essential medicines, textbooks, school materials and fuel for heating during the long sub-zero winters."
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/korea.html
Angående ekonomisk frihet så skriver the Heritage Foundation att
"The Communist Party controls and commands almost every aspect of economic activity. Since the early 1990s, North Korea has replaced the doctrine of Marxism–Leninism with the late Kim Il-Sung’s juche (self-reliance) as the official state ideology. The country’s impoverished population is heavily dependent on government subsidies in housing and food rations even though the state-run rationing system has deteriorated significantly in recent years [...] The overall freedom to start, operate, and close a business is extremely restricted by North Korea’s national regulatory environment. The state regulates the economy heavily through central planning. Economic reforms implemented in 2002 allegedly brought some changes at the enterprise and industrial levels, but entrepreneurial activity is still virtually impossible."
http://www.heritage.org/Index/Country/NorthKorea
Amnesty skriver, utifrån år 2009, att
"Millions of people faced the worst food shortages since the late 1990s. Thousands continued to cross the border into China, mainly for food and economic reasons. Those arrested and forcibly repatriated were subjected to forced labour, torture and other ill-treatment in prison camps. Other widespread violations of human rights persisted, including politically motivated and arbitrary use of detention and executions, and severe restrictions on freedoms of expression and movement. Independent human rights monitors continued to be denied access to the country."
http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/north-korea
Reportrar utan gränser skriver så här,
"No country in the world is as isolated as North Korea. The totalitarian regime uses strict control of the media to keep its people in ignorance. Listening to a foreign-based radio station can land you in a concentration camp [...] Thousands of North Koreans have been detained for listening to a foreign radio station, making phone calls abroad or publicly questioning the sole political party. The security forces, particularly state security, are responsible for maintaining the country’s isolation at all costs. For several years there has been a rise in the number of those executed for having communicated with someone abroad. Kim Sung Chul has been held in custody since October 2006 after sending film abroad of a public execution. A North Korean TV journalist, Song Keum Chul, has reportedly been held in a camp since 1996 for challenging the official version of certain historical events."
http://www.rsf.org/en-rapport58-North_Korea.html
Human Rights Watch formulerar sig så här...
"Despite lip-service to human rights in the constitution, human rights conditions in North Korea remain dire. There is no organized political opposition, free media, functioning civil society, or religious freedom. Arbitrary arrest, detention, and torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and lack of due process remain serious issues. North Korea operates detention facilities including those popularly known as "political prison camps" where hundreds of thousands of its citizens-including children-are enslaved in deplorable conditions for various anti-state offenses. Collective punishment is the norm for such crimes. Periodically, the government publicly executes citizens for stealing state property, hoarding food, and other "anti-socialist" crimes."
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/87398
Svenska UD skriver så här
"Det politiska systemet innehåller inte någon mekanism som gör det möjligt för folket att i praktiken förändra landets ledarskap. Den dominerande politiska kraften är det statsbärande Koreanska arbetarpartiet. Parlamentet samman träder korta perioder för att formellt godkänna de beslut som förberetts av regeringen och partiet."
http://www.manskligarattigheter.gov.se/extra/document/?instance=1&action_show_document.559.=1
Men klart, allt det här är väl bara bluff och båg från den amerikanska borgarklassen. Egentligen så är Nordkorea ungefär som Sverige eller kanske Japan. Sanningen finns i uttalanden från nordkoreas ambassad i Stockholm!