Lowball figure

More North Korea news-

SEOUL, South Korea - About 430 North Koreans have died of hunger in a northern region of the impoverished communist country in the past month because of chronic food shortages, a South Korean aid group said Wednesday.

The number of people who starved to death is also on the rise in other northern regions, with an average of four people dying per day in hospitals in each county and city in that area, the Good Friends aid agency said in a newsletter.

"The death toll could be even higher as we don't have full statistics in the North," Erica Kang, a spokeswoman for the aid agency, told The Associated Press.

North Korean authorities have said illnesses were to blame for the deaths but they were caused by long-term malnutrition, the aid agency said, citing an unidentified doctor in the North.

The aid agency did not say how it obtained the information. Some of its previous reports inside the isolated country have later been confirmed. The group released a similar report earlier this month, saying the North's food situation was worsening.

The Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said it could not confirm the report.

Its almost impossible to verify any news coming out of the hermit kingdom. However based on past news reporting and recent DPRK history, you have to think these reports to be true. I also bet many more people died than the total of 430 reported above.

The conditions the North Korean people live in is a disgrace to humanity. Unfortunately as long as Kim Il Jong has nuclear capability, nothing can be done about it.

Linked to- Conservative Thoughts, Leaning Straight Up, Right Voices,