WHO Chief Announces the Good News: "No Signs of Obesity" in North Korea!
The latest round of commie spooning from a dimwitted international bureaucrat:
North Korea's health system would be the envy of many developing countries because of the abundance of medical staff that it has available, the head of the World Health Organization said on Friday.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, speaking a day after returning from a 2-1/2 day visit to the reclusive country, said malnutrition was a problem in North Korea but she had not seen any obvious signs of it in the capital Pyongyang.
North Korea -- which does not allow its citizens to leave the country -- has no shortage of doctors and nurses, in contrast to other developing countries where skilledhealthcare workers often emigrate, she said.
This allows North Korea to provide comprehensive healthcare, with one "household doctor" looking after every 130 families, said the head of the United Nations health agency, praising North Korea's immunization coverage and mother and child care.
"They have something which most other developing countries would envy," Chan told a news conference, noting that her visit was a rare sign of the communist state's willingness to cooperate with outside agencies.
The three-year North Korean famine that killed about 3 million people in the 1990s gets all of a four-word mention in the Reuters write-up of Chan's remarks. But, you know, massive-famine-that-killed-12-percent-of-the-population aside, Chan notes, North Korea has none of that filthy excess we see in countries whose citizens aren't considered the property of the state:
Chan spent most of her brief visit in Pyongyang, and she said that from what she had seen there most people had the same height and weight as Asians in other countries, while there were no signs of the obesity emerging in some parts of Asia.
But she said conditions could be different in the countryside.
Well thank goodness North Koreans aren't getting fat. Good to know the WHO has its priorities in order.
In other news about clueless international organizations, the latest member of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women will be . . . Iran. You may remember Iran from such hits as "7 Iranianan Women Face Stoning Death for Adultery," "Iranian Authorities Continue to Harass Activists Working for Women's Rights," and last summer's #1 YouTube smash, "The Murder of Neda Agha-Soltan."
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Well, to be fair, such signs are not going to be obvious to the true believer . . .
They're also not going to be obvious to anyone being led around by handlers.
I would have thought that point was too obvious to state, but apparently it's lost on both Chan and the author of the article.
Indeed. I'll bet she also saw no disabled people, either, since they are moved out of the capital for aesthetic reasons.
"since they are moved out of the capital for aesthetic reasons."
Or killed because they do not conform to Juche ideology.
Very possible. "Useless eaters."
re: handlers. Vice did an interesting video series on trying to get into and tour around N. Korea.
http://www.vbs.tv/newsroom/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-14
most people had the same height and weight as Asians in other countries, while there were no signs of the obesity emerging in some parts of Asia.
Wait. ...Ah, fuck it.
I figured lefties wouldn't adapt their "obesity epidemic" thing to sugarcoating state-induced mass starvation, because that's too stupid to even use in a joke. And they have that whole rack of Global Whatevering shit they can say instead, so why risk it? I forget how consequence-free their rhetorical lives are.
(Psst. Ron Paul's a racist.)
But wouldn't we all benefit from the pesticide-free, locally grown, organically fertilized, carbon-neutral North Koran agriculatural system?
You're starting to put ALL of the pieces together Comrade!
Juche!
Take that, hippies!
I am SOOOO horny after reading that!
I wonder what Hans Blix had to say after his visit.
What do you call a North Korean with diarrhea?
Show Off.
Another milepost on the Road to Hell.
Is there any chance that she can be left there?
I'm ready to donate 100 000 $ to the WHO to make it happen ... What about a send your liberal to North Korea deportation program, I'm ready to pay for that !
"Ir've got Arec Barwin!!"
"When you see Alec Baldwin, you will see the true ugliness of human nature."
Radley has been absolutely bludgeoning us this week. Damn.
I think the people in Pyongyang ate those that starved to death.
There were reports of cannibilism during the worst of the famine.
The latest round of commie spooning from a dimwitted international bureaucrat...
Brilliant, Balko, a virtuoso takedown.
Is North Korea still officially communist? I thought they had changed their official ideology to "juche". e.g., they are just a totalitarian state now, and they've dropped pretensions to Marxism.
I think it is pronounced "douche".
Pardon me, waiter, but what flavor of shit do you recommend?
Push the UN diplomats out of the building (preferably from the top floor) and turn it into a casino.
The organization is a bad fucking joke and I'm embarrassed that my country is a member.
Where the fuck are the trolls? Where are the defenders of the indefensible? C'mon Dan T., maybe start it out with a "Well if americans...", and then blame us for the inevitable, and logical conclusion of your belief system.
Tell us how fucking wonderful these international organizations are, how Euro and forward thinking they are. Maybe you could instruct us on how to be more respectful of NKorean and Iranian culture.
Or you'll just not appear on threads like these, and annoy us with your nannyism elsewhere. Wonder why?
Come talk to me in 40 years when the obesity epidemic among our youth finally starts to take its toll. Our premature mortality stats will dwarf anything happening in NK.
But let's go ahead and keep stuffing our fat faces with fast food and judging the north koreans.
Right on cue.
It's so perfectly constructed that I'm inclined to think it's a spoof.
Inclined? Really, how much evidence do you need?
In fairness, this does explain the tidal wave of human migration bound for Pyongyang from the Western shores of North America.
Please tell me this was meant to be parody.
I am going to take that as a flat out prediction - that, absent a regime change. life expectancy in North Korea will be greater than life expectancy in the US 40 years from now.
Care to make a tontine bet on it?
That my friends, is some powerful stupid.
Really Dan? Really?
It's so daft this has to be a parody. Has to be.
I liked his use of the pronoun "our" when referencing the stuffing of fat faces. Guess it's not a surprise that Dan T is a fatty. Just like Ed SAchultz.
Sure, let's put government in charge of what we eat, Dan.
You go first. We'll catch up later.
Maybe Michael Moore can be sent there. He likes socialist healthcare systems. Plus he could lose some weight...or he could feed a family of five for a month.
And let me add, I saw no obesity during the so-called "Ukrainian famine."
I realize you are mocking both Duranty and WHO, but having read Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow and the story of Duranty's complicity in covering up what happened, I really don't find the joke funny.
Fuck these people. Signs of obesity should be taken as a very good sign, indicating that people finally have enough food to eat. When you consider that for most of history, most people spent some part of their lives starving, obesity is a pretty damn good problem to have.
The Lakota called the month of February, the Moon of Hardship. There were extremely greatful when the maple sap started running.
If this doesn't tell us what we are dealing with, what does? The inmates have taken over the government here and there.
Reuters headline from 1944: "UN representative, Chan, reports no signs of obesity or oppression at Auschwitz day spa."
"Kolyma and Vorkuta Resorts Still Packing Them In!"
Henry Wallace visited Soviet labor camps - I think Kolyma - in 1944 (I think) and reported on how progressive the Soviet regime was in rehabilitating its criminals.
The UN didn't exist in 1944. I think you mean the League of Nations.
So they're like concentration camp doctors and nurses . . . I see.
The interesting thing is that this fact was pointed out by her.
I'd call this woman a useful idiot, but I don't want to be unfair to the idiots.
Thank you!
The greatest freedom is the freedom from choice. Next is the freedom from obesity.
Right?
If only North Korea would open up, they could become the fat camp to the world. And Kim would love all the Hollywood starlets flocking there to learn how to make more of their bones visible.
I expect MS Chang would also approve of the progress that Hugo Chavez is making in fighing obesity in Venezuala.
His price controls on food have helped ensure that there will be much less of it available for the public to eat.
He is now blaming butchers for beef shortages and having them arrested.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/37023580
Wow.
7-11 ran out of Camel Lights this week, i bet that "shortage" was their fault too.
I really do think the world has been slowly ending the last 10years. Things just keep making less and less sense.
Please note: The official UN World Food Organization, there were NO famine in North korea, but food shortage. But there is estimate by neighbors of N. Korea, from Japan, S. Korea, China,& Russina, the indirect food shortage caused 200K-300K victims, NOT "up to" 2-3Million according to a journalist or US representative of UN. People should not use "food shortage" as political tools. Keep normal people out of politician loser fights, whether that politician is North Korean or non-North Korean.
It wasn't a famine, just a food shortage that caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people!
Ok, "kevin".
For a bunch of rich, heartless bastards who profit at the expense of the poor and helpless, and who care about nothing but our own selfish interests, we sure get riled up about human rights on this site.
It's an act.
We want people to die due to their own idiocy, not the idiocy of their society's elites. For the sake of the gene pool.
This is the same organization that ranks countries by infant mortality rate without any consideration for what counts as a live birth. It isn't as if that minor flaw hasn't been pointed out to them. Zero credibility. They have their own definition of live birth, yet report on countries where they (have to) know such criteria is not used.
Wiki likes the Michael Moore numbers as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.....ality_rate
Anyone wanna bet they correct their methodology now that the U.S. "has joined the rest of the civilized world" with Osamacare?
I really hope you're not trying to make an Osama/Obama joke there.
Where would you prefer to live, N. Korea or Africa? (excluding S. Africa and Egypt). I ask because this came up in conversation recently, and I was in the minority opinion.
Thanks.
Given the opportunity to pass on the DRC. I would pick Africa. There's more space to hide.
I vote for Africa.
I would have a chance to emmigrate to where the food is.
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As we continue to grapple with Obesity, a question that is not getting too much attention is the role Alternative systems of medicine like Ayurveda can play in controlling / curing obesity. A system based on Nature can not be all that bad 🙂
What you had mentioned is quite reasonable! Beautifully written article sir.
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The inmates have taken over the government here and there.gazeteler sohbet