EIJING (AP) — Some North Koreans are resorting to cannibalism in a desperate bid to survive their nation’s famine, according to a report by French aid workers.
Representatives from Doctors Without Borders compiled a report from interviews they conducted along the Chinese border with North Korea.
However, Catherine Bertini, executive director of the World Food Program who spent four days last week in North Korea, said she saw no evidence of cannibalism.
According to the Doctors Without Borders report, a 23-year-old North Korean refugee interviewed in China told of his neighbors eating their daughter. It also said a Chinese-Korean who crosses the border for food and other essentials said one woman ate her 2-year-old child.
An 18-year-old North Korean refugee also reportedly told the director of an orphanage in the Chinese border town of Yanji that her neighbor killed, salted and ate an uncared-for orphan.
There have been other persistent but unconfirmed reports of cannibalism in famine-stricken North Korea, which has seen severe food shortages from economic mismanagement and natural disasters.