UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- North Korean women seem to be bearing the brunt of their government's decision to suspend international food aid.

The special rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea says more women than men have started to flee the country.

"It seems smugglers are targeting women directly," said Vitit Muntarbhorn, Friday, presenting his report at U.N. World Headquarters in New York.

The BBC said about 100,000 people from the DPRK have escaped to China. Estimates by policy think tanks puts the number at 200,000 or more. Whatever the actual numbers, according to the United Nations, more and more women have started joining the ranks of these refugees.

In China, home to the largest numbers of North Korean refugees, special units continue to hunt down refugees and arrest them, according to Refugees International, a non-profit organization.

"Most of the people interviewed said they either knew or knew of North Koreans who had been deported in recent weeks," said Refugees International.

In fact, once women refugees have safely arrived in another country, their sex makes them more vulnerable to exploitation. "As many arrive hungry and desperate, they become easy targets for traffickers," said the 2005 report of the International Labor Organization.

North Korean women are frequently sold into forced marriages or prostitution, according to the ILO. The biggest demand for women from the DPRK is in China, where the one-child policy has resulted in a deficit of women because of selective abortions, infanticide, and the selling off of girl babies.

Kidnapping and trafficking have become common ways for Chinese men to acquire women, said the National Review magazine. The publication recently printed a plea from a female North Korea refugee hiding in China.

"Please help us. Please save us from this darkness full of danger. We are currently living in China risking danger every day. It is not just me alone, but my mother, elder sister, and my elder sister's 3-year-old daughter. The only crime we have is coming here to find something to eat because we were hungry. What is worse than being hungry is the constant worry and fear that at any moment we might get caught."

In September, this year, North Korea formally told the United Nations it no longer needs food aid. Pyongyang cited a good harvest and a need to shift from dependence to development as his reasons.

Gerald Bourke, a spokesman for the World Food Program, said despite assertions of a better harvest in North Korea this year - and a pledge the government was "prepared to provide food to all our people" - there was still a considerable need for food aid.

Women have suffered the most from food shortages in North Korea. In 2004, a U.N. survey revealed that international aid had failed to improve the nutritional situation of women in the DPRK. "One-third of mothers are malnourished," Muntarbhorn said.

With international relief agencies leaving the DPRK, malnourishment among women is expected to increase, pushing more of them across the borders, the special rapporteur said.

While no specific threats were directed at Damascus by the new U.N. Security Council resolution enacted Monday, the language leaves no room for ambiguity.

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