Surgery Reveals North Korean Defector Is Riddled With Parasitic Worms

[jpak]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/world/asia/north-korean-defector-parasitic-worms.html

SEOUL, South Korea — A North Korean soldier’s bold attempt to defect by crossing the heavily guarded border with South Korea galvanized attention this week.

But perhaps more surprising was the disclosure by surgeons struggling to save his life of what they found while repairing his intestinal wounds: dozens of parasitic worms, some as long as 11 inches.

“In my 20 years as a surgeon, I have only seen something like this in a medical textbook,” said Dr. Lee Cook-jong, a lead surgeon.

The discovery opened a window on the dire conditions in North Korea, including poor hygiene and nutrition. The news shocked many people in prosperous South Korea.

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[riversedge]

1. Whow. I thought they at least took care of the military in NK!!

[EX500rider]

6. It's gotten where they can only feed the Special Forces well..

Since the great famine of the 1990s the military has been depending more and more on their own gardens and farms for food but now the government is demanding a portion of those harvests as well. This has hurt morale of the troops, who now spend a lot of their time growing their own food to replace the declining shipments from the government. For the government the logic behind this move is to provide, by any means necessary, adequate food to the most reliable troops. Since 2010 the North Korean military has been quite obviously in bad shape. This was the result of two decades of shrinking budgets, reduced training and little new equipment. The only big changes have been a reorganization of the reserves (disbanding many divisions and transferring their equipment to active duty units that needed it more) and expanding the "Special Forces", which are now 16 percent of all troops and apparently the only ones the government feels it can depend on. Since 2010 Special Forces have been expanded to at least 180,000 troops. Keeping the armed forces loyal is apparently the main function of the North Korean Special Forces, not leading another invasion of the south. The Special Forces are largely light infantry trained and equipped for sneaking through South Korean front lines and cause trouble. Some of these troops have complained of food shortages so it is imperative that the Special Forces get special treatment. But now the government obviously can’t keep the Special Forces well fed.

North Korean domestic propaganda has been all about the nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and how the success of these programs was going to result in great things. What the propaganda does not dwell on is what exactly the “great things” are. For most North Korean it means more food and fewer demands from the government for additional work people have little energy for and additional taxes the force people to choose between hunger (paying) and not paying (and risk prison camp in order to buy more food). Even the elite troops, like the Special Forces and the missile forces (crews and support troops for ballistic missiles) are feeling the hunger. Leader Kim Jong Un often visits the missile troops after a successful launch of a new type of missile. The troops know that these visits are traditionally accompanied by “gifts” from the supreme leader. That was true until 2017 when the gifts included less (or no) food. In 2017 the food has been absent or present in much smaller quantities. Worse, not everyone in the units is getting gifts and the troops left out have been complaining. A job with a missile unit is still a good deal, with more and better food along with more electricity and fuel. But the perks are eroding and “special” troops with kin (often siblings) in less elite units eventually discover that it is much worse in the no-special military. Often much worse. Families notice this during the occasional times soldiers can visit family. Troops from elite units are not skinny and irritable. Most troops are spending more time with non-military duties and act more like prison inmates. Troops from elite units have a sense of purpose. People notice and the bad news gets around despite increased government efforts to suppress the spread of such information.

https://strategypage.com/qnd/korea/articles/20171115.aspx

[tblue37]

7. Kim himself sure isn't missing any meals. nt

[Kaleva]

2. Lil Kim is reportedly to blame as he wants everyone to dump their crap in gardens

[VMA131Marine]

3. That would indicate that there is a severe shortage of phosphate in NK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_phosphorus

[hunter]

8. There are ways to do that safely, but all require simple tools and training...

...ordinary North Koreans apparently don't have.

Modern composting toilets of any design may be beyond reach, and even the ancient practice of fallow field agriculture may be beyond reach.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Parasitic worms are my personal kryptonite

I can handle the most repugnant things imaginable, with that sole exception. That story creeps me out to the max.

[moriah]

5. Eeeeuck.