GENEVA, Oct 13: The UN children’s fund warned on Friday that any sanctions imposed on North Korea over its declared nuclear test must not affect children in the country.

“Unicef is concerned that whatever sanctions are imposed should be designed and implemented in such a way as to avoid a negative impact on children,” a spokesman for the agency, Michael Borciukiw, said.

Borciukiw called for an assessment of the potential impact on children of punitive measures, and subsequent monitoring to gauge any humanitarian effects.

The UN Security Council was reconvening on Friday to try to overcome differences on the scale and nature of sanctions, which most major powers agree on in principle.

Borciukiw said agencies like Unicef, which are supplied from abroad, had been able to make a considerable difference to the health of North Korean children, although chronic malnutrition remains high among youngsters.

“It’s clear to anyone that any serious interruption in our interventions could risk compromising the gains of the last 10 years,” he told journalists.

More than 90 per cent of North Korean children are immunised against tuberculosis, polio and measles, while 80 per cent have been vaccinated against tetanus, whooping cough and diptheria, according to Unicef.

About one-third of North Korean mothers are malnourished and anaemic, maternal mortality rates are high, and 20 per cent of under two-year-olds suffer from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor hygiene, it added.—AFP