Background Information
North Korea is a country situated in East Asia, on the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. It has been troubled by food scarcity for decades, resulting in a drastic decrease in life expectancy since the 1990s. The country has been struggling with a public health crisis due to problems with food supply and nutrition. North Korea has long been known for its tight control of the population and has been facing tight international sanctions since 2006 due to its nuclear weapons program. The overall level of food – or its availability – has been dropping since the 1990s, due to drought and an inability to produce sufficient food domestically. This has led to a series of food shortages that have been described as the worst in a century.
Relevant Data
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), North Korea faces a severe food shortage due to “weak domestic production, chronic underinvestment and facing a wide range of external constraints”. In 2020, the FAO estimated that 10.1 million people in North Korea were malnourished and in need of food assistance. The Global Hunger Index also ranked North Korea as one of the most malnourished countries in the world that year. Furthermore, an Oxfam report showed that the North Korean government spending on food imports constituted just 4.48 percent of its total imports in 2019, a significant decrease from the 21.4 percent share in 2008.
Expert Perspectives
Experts have argued that North Korea’s food crisis has multiple causes, including inadequate harvests, infrastructural problems, and extreme government restrictions. Economist Lara Lomuto said that North Korea is one of the few countries in the world still suļ¬ering from a famine-like crisis due to a combination of “political fragile environment, lack of essential infrastructure, and to decades of disregarding priority’s over investment while enforcing extreme restrictions in the use of its resources”. Dr. John E. Yang, a professor of political science at Columbia University, argued that North Korea’s food crisis can be explained by a series of political and economic mismanagement of the government. He suggested that the government’s misguided economic policies have caused a collapse of the nation’s food distribution system, leading to food scarcity.
Insights and Analysis
Though the food crisis in North Korea has been deepening since the 1990s, it seems to have worsened since international sanctions have been imposed on the country. The current sanctions have been restricting North Korea from accessing the international market, preventing it from importing the necessary goods to foster food production. Furthermore, the sanctions have been linked to restrictions on North Korean access to export markets in Russia and China, resulting in significant losses of key export revenues. This further limits the country’s access to financial resources, making it difficult to purchase foreign food supplies. As a consequence, North Korea’s internal food production has been compromised, leading to increased malnutrition and hardship for its people.
Social and Political Causes
North Korea’s food crisis appears to be the result of a breakdown of the country’s political system and the effects of international sanctions. The country’s leaders have failed to develop a sufficient economic infrastructure and maintain a viable agricultural sector. In addition, the country’s political instability has made it difficult to provide adequate food assistance, both internally and externally. In recent years, North Korea has faced increasing international isolation and sanctions, making it difficult to access food and other essential goods, such as medical supplies. This has further exacerbated the food crisis, as the country has faced both a shortage of food and a lack of foreign exchange reserves.
Impact on North Korean Society
The food crisis in North Korea has caused a dramatic decrease in life expectancy and a rise in food insecurity. A recent report by The World Food Programme found that an estimated 11 million people in the region suffer from food insecurity, with the number of people facing severe acute malnutrition more than doubling since the early 2000s. Every year, thousands of people die due to starvation and malnutrition-related diseases, and the country’s health care system has been severely compromised. This has had a disastrous impact on the overall health of North Korean citizens, leading to an increase in poverty levels and a decrease in quality of life.
International Cooperation
Although North Korea has been facing a critical food shortage, there have been some efforts from the international community to assist the country. The UN World Food Programme has implemented several humanitarian aid programmes to help mitigate the food crisis in North Korea. This includes providing emergency food aid, nutrition programmes, and capacity-building projects to assist small-scale farmers. In addition, non-governmental organisations and charities have been sending shipments of food, medical supplies, and other forms of aid to North Korea. Though these efforts have helped to alleviate some of the suffering, they have been poorly coordinated and inadequate to adequately address the food crisis.
Agricultural Sector Investments
In order to address the food crisis in North Korea, it is essential to invest in the country’s agricultural sector and improve the nation’s food security. This involves improving the country’s agricultural infrastructure and providing access to more advanced technology and resources. This would enable North Korea to increase its food production and feed the nation more efficiently. It would also provide the opportunity to diversify the country’s economy and provide jobs for the population. Furthermore, it would require international collaboration to support the development of North Korea’s agricultural sector and provide long-term solutions to the food crisis.
Political and Economic Reform
North Korea must reform its political and economic systems in order to combat the food crisis. Political reform is needed to improve the government’s relationship with the international community in light of current sanctions. This would allow North Korea to access the foreign market and thereby increase its access to much-needed food supplies. Economic reform is also necessary to enable the country to move away from its current centrally controlled economy and towards a more open, market-oriented system that could enable growth and development. This could help reduce poverty levels and improve the quality of life of North Koreans.
Educational Awareness
In order to fully address the food crisis in North Korea, it is important to increase public awareness and understanding of the issue. This involves educating the population about the root causes of the food crisis and raising awareness of the need for change. The North Korean government must also focus on educating the population about modern agricultural techniques and providing access to necessary resources, in order to enable them to increase their agricultural productivity. Finally, it is essential to improve the media’s access to information in order to allow the public to become better informed and take action.
