How parasites found in North Korean defector reveal rogue state's secrets
It has been revealed just how much North Korea is investing in their military and how little is being thrown into other important resources such as health care.
Surgeon Lee Cook-jong said he hadn't quite seen anyone in the condition one North Korean defector was in.
South Korean soldiers found him under a pile of leaves, bleeding from at least five gunshot wounds, The New York Times reports.
When he was operated on, doctors gained a glimpse into just how bad things are in North Korea.
Doctors repairing the unidentified soldier's digestive tract found dozens of parasites in his intestines.
One of the suspected roundworms was 27cm long.
"I spent more than 20 years of experience as a surgeon, but I have not found parasites this big in the intestines of South Koreans," Dr Cook-jong said.
The worms living inside the unnamed man reveal a much deeper story into the humanitarian and health crisis gripping North Korea.
According to News Corp, North Korea spends 22 per cent of its gross domestic product on the military leaving other public spending priorities to suffer.
According to a report by the United Nations, two of every five people in North Korea are undernourished.
Seventy per cent of people require food assistance to survive, including 1.3 million children below the age of five.
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Along with this, the food they have access to can cause them to become ill or even kill them.
According to the New York Times, several North Koreans who've defected to the South have shown up infected with parasites.
Part of the reason parasites are prominent in people in the country is because North Korea lacks chemical fertiliser, leaving farmers to rely on human excrement to fertilise fields.
It's notorious for transmitting parasites.
The soldier's vital signs were stabilising this weekend, AP reported, but it was still unclear whether he would recover or wake up.
He remains unconscious and relying on a breathing machine.
