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North Korea brands U.S. 'Living Hell'

North Korea labeled the U.S. a "Living Hell" with racial discrimination, unemployment, surveillance and poverty rampant earlier this week, in an evident attempt to requite United Nations and several Western worlds’ claims on North Korea's human rights abuse that was published in February.

The communist state also slashed South Korea as a state "deprived of everything thanks to America."

According to several American media outlets, the secluded country's official mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency released an article, "News Analysis on Poor Human Rights Records in U.S."

The report claims that "The U.S. is a living hell as elementary rights to existence are ruthlessly violated."

The report cited racism.

"Under the citizenship act, racialism is getting more severe in the U.S. The gaps between the minorities and the whites are very wide in the exercise of such rights to work and elect."

It cited the Florida Court's last year verdict clearing a white policeman who shot an innocent black man to death and said, "That's why 52 percent of the Americans have said that racism still exists in the country while 46 percent contended that all sorts of discrimination would be everlasting."

The report also picked on U.S.' high unemployment rate, saying, "At present, an average of 300,000 people a week are registered as unemployed, but any proper measure has not been taken."

It claimed that "The number of impoverished people increased to 46.5 millions last year, and one sixth of the citizens and 20-odd percent of the children are in the grip of famine in New York City."

And therefore, it says, "All sorts of crimes rampant in the U.S. pose a serious threat to the people's rights to existence and their inviolable rights."

It said, "Bills on easing arms control were adopted in various states of the country, boosting murderous crimes. As a result, the U.S. has witnessed an increasing number of gun-related crimes in all parts of the country and even its military bases this year. In this regard, the United Nations on April 10 put the U.S. on the top of the world list of homicide rates."

The report goes on talking that "The U.S. government has monitored every movement of its citizens and foreigners, with many cameras and tapping devices and even drones involved, under the pretext of 'national security.'"

The report also claimed that U.S. President Obama is in luxury almost every day, "squandering hundred millions of dollars on his foreign trip in disregard of his people's wretched life."

And in terms of economic inequality, South Korea was also hit. The Washington Post cited a Rodong Sinmun newspaper's announcement that North Korea has released a white paper on human rights status in South Korea.

According to the article, the northern part of the Korean peninsula alleges that “Over 60 percent of university students cannot afford their school fees so must work (to make ends meet)," and that "Some even have to subject their bodies to medical trials."

 By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)