A/HRC/7/20 page 5 I. SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 5. The human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remains grave in a number of key areas and, as a testament to this, the General Assembly adopted another resolution (62/167), in which it expressed its very serious concern at the record of the country at the end of 2007, and requested the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report on the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Special Rapporteur to continue to report his findings and recommendations. The continuing negative situation in the country can be seen through the perspectives described below. A. Human rights and the development process: the inequity factor? 6. There is a paucity of data on the development process in this country with a population of some 23 million. Sources indicate the country’s negative growth from 1990 onwards for nine years, with per capita national income falling from an estimated $1,013 in 1992 to $573 in 1998. The economy recovered slightly from 1999 and the estimated per capita national income in 2004 was estimated at $914.2 Growth has taken place mainly in the mining and manufacturing sectors. The gross domestic product growth rate was estimated at 1 per cent per annum in 2006.3 7. There has consistently been a trade deficit facing the country. For instance, exports for 2004 were some $1.28 billion, while imports amounted to some $2.28 billion, with a trade deficit of around $1.001 billion.4 External debt was estimated to be some $12 billion in 1996, mainly owed to its immediate neighbours.5 8. The development process is faced with the lack of equity - “inequity” due to the highly stratified political structure: the elite do well, with a cult-like attachment to the apex of the administration, while the rest are left at the margins of the development process. The inequitable development pattern is propelled by a centrally planned economy of an ideology-steeped top-down and isolationist kind, which is based on perpetuating the survival of the regime in power. The country is driven by a non-democratic structure with an entrenched hierarchy interested in self-preservation, and this distorts the budget and other allocations in favour of the ruling elite. There is also a clandestine economy from which the powers-that-be benefit. There is 2 North-East Asia Economic Databook: www.erina.or/jp/en/Publications/databook/index.htm, p. 49. 3 Library of Congress - Federal Research Division - County Profile: North Korea, July 2007, p. 9. North-East Asia. 4 North-East Asia Economic Databook, p. 53. 5 Library of Congress … (note 3 above), p. 11.