Study: North Korea is the world’s most ignored humanitarian crisis

24, Jan 2018 | CJP Team

The Guardian reported that a study that scrutinised media coverage of the world’s crises found that the worsening humanitarian crisis in North Korea saw the least news coverage. North Korea is struggling with acute food shortages, resulting in an estimated two of five people in the country being undernourished. Around 18 million North Koreans–70% of the country’s population–are reportedly dependent on food aid from the government, with a major drought in 2017 making the situation worse. Care International employed media monitoring services to follow the amount of coverage of humanitarian crises in English, French, and German press in 2017. More than 1.2 million articles were analysed; this revealed that North Korea’s crisis was the most ignored, followed by crises in Eritrea in Burundi. The report explained that the plight of those living in areas that are not popular tourist spots rarely comes to light, noting that “…when crises are under-reported, they are often consequently underfunded.” The study focuses on ten crises, six of which are on the United Nations’ list of the most underfunded emergencies in 2017.