Diplomacy route on North Korea (2)

Fifty-seven percent of the North Korean population is malnourished, including 45 percent of children under age 5, said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., in an opening speech [at a seminar at the American Enterprise Institute].

North Korea is enduring an eighth straight year of mass starvation due to the policies imposed by the government of Kim Jong Il.

A particularly telling statistic is that Pyongyang has lowered the height requirement for military conscripts to 4 feet 2 inches from 4 feet 11 inches, Brownback said.

In North Korea's notorious prison camps, nearly one-fourth of the population dies each year because of hardships such as hard labor, torture and withheld food, said Brownback, who has been active in developing U.S. policy on North Korea and North Korean refugees.

[From an UPI article by Carolyn Ayon Lee]