A/HRC/10/18 page 5 4. The overall picture of human rights implementation in the country is nonetheless grim, and the situation remains dire and desperate. The country is under one-party rule, premised on the ideology of juche - nominally based on self-reliance, which is in reality a form of ruler-based nationalism, driven by a relentless propaganda machine. At the pinnacle there is an oppressive regime, bent on personal survival, under which the ordinary people of the land undergo intolerable and interminable suffering. People live in fear and are pressed to inform on each other. The State practises extensive surveillance of its inhabitants. Even officials, including diplomats, live daily with apprehension, since they are encouraged to “whistle-blow” on colleagues. Over the years, the authorities have bred a culture of pervasive mistrust and multilayered divide and rule, creating great insecurity for the general population. 5. Matters have been made more complicated by the fact that the regime posits a songan (military first) policy and has armed itself with nuclear weapons. The six-party talks involving the United States of America, China, the Russian Federation, Japan and the Republic of Korea have endeavoured to pressure the country to denuclearize in return for aid. In 2008, some constructive steps were made to disable the nuclear facilities at Yongbyong, including the demolition of the cooling tower there. However, at the end of 2008, these steps were suspended over the question of how the disablement process was to be verified. It is hoped that these talks will proceed in future, given that a positive atmosphere on that front might also offer space for the improvement of human rights in the country. 6. A number of issues deserving great attention are described in the paragraphs below. A. Food and basic necessities 7. Food grants based on rations provided by the State to its people have been practised since the early days of the regime, through a public distribution system, as a means of State control over its inhabitants. The system failed drastically in the mid-1990s, when a critical food shortage led to rampant malnutrition and other tragedies, brought about by a combination of natural disasters, environmental degradation and mismanagement by the authorities. The regime then started to accept foreign food aid to alleviate the chronic situation. In 2005 and 2006, it tried to reduce that aid and the presence of international agencies working on the issue in an attempt to curb outside influence, but this was overtaken by other events, particularly the devastating floods of 2006 and 2007. These disasters pressured the authorities to reopen the country to outside aid. In 2006, the main United Nations agency dealing with the issue, the World Food Programme (WFP), began its two-year Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation, designed to provide food aid to 1.9 million people. 8. In 2008, a new agreement was reached between the authorities and WFP to assist some 6.5 million people. Both WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) carried out an important food security assessment in June 2008. The initial findings revealed very disquieting indicators of a serious decline in food availability, accessibility and consumption. Particularly worrying was the finding that the number of children affected by diarrhoea had increased markedly, namely, nearly twice the number recorded in the previous Government/United Nations nutritional survey conducted in 2005. Child malnutrition and illnesses have thus been on the rise.