SEOUL: North Korea must create a legal framework for traders buying and selling basic necessities such as food and clothing to tackle rights violations in the country, the UN's human rights body said Tuesday .
"In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, people face both a failed public distribution system and an insecure informal sector where they are exposed to prosecution and corruption," it said in a report, using the country's official name. "If you just follow instructions coming from the State you starve to death," a female defector from Ryanggang province was quoted as saying in the report.But the lack of legal clarity for commercial activity meant North Koreans who engaged in it faced the risk of arrest and detention by authorities, the report said.
And the threat of arrest gave officials"a powerful means to extort money and other favours", it said.