N.Korea worst on human rights, group says

Freedom House, a U.S. pro human rights group, announced Wednesday that North Korea is the worst nation in terms of fundamental human rights and democracy.

Through this report, the Freedom House selected 11 nations including North Korea, Cuba, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Tibet, Chechnya, Iraq and Libya as the worst nations in terms of human rights.

The group, which has been evaluating the human rights status of nations since 1981, has classified the 192 nations in the world into free nations (86), partially free nations (59), and nations without freedom (47). Free nations are given a comprehensive score of 1.0 to 3.0, partially free nations 3.0 to 5.5, nations without freedom 5.5 to 7.0. Korea scored 2.0 while North Korea posted a 7.0.

According to the report, from 1990 through 1998 free nations posted an average economic growth rate of 2.56 percent, and this figure has been found to be 70 percent higher than for nations without freedom. This clearly illustrates that human rights and democracy are success factors for economic growth.