An international human rights watchdog says human rights conditions in North Korea remain abysmal.

In its annual report on the global rights situation, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said that despite increased border patrols by North Korean authorities last year, many North Koreans continued to risk escaping to China in search of food and work. The organization said the situation worsened in 2006 and 2007 after massive summer flooding damaged crops and homes.

The report said that since the mid-1990s, hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have fled to China, adding that trafficking of North Korean women and girls in China persists, especially near the border.

According to the report, South Korea has admitted around ten-thousand North Korean escapees up until now, while the U.S, has granted refugee status to a few dozen North Koreans. It also said Japan has accepted over 100 North Koreans, mostly individuals who lived in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s.

In Europe, Germany, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Denmark have granted refugee status to a total of more than 300 North Koreans in recent years.