Investment urged in polluted North Korea

Urgent investment is needed in North Korea to deal with serious environmental problems that have depleted the country’s forests, contaminated water supplies and polluted the air, the United Nations’ top environmental official has said.

The reclusive communist state “has very severe environmental challenges”, Klaus Toepfer, head of the UN Environment Programme, said as the agency released its first environmental report on the country.

The report revealed how North Korea’s environmental, economic and political problems had compounded each other and recommended investing in renewable energy and cleaner coal-burning technology.