Food and famine in North Korea

The great starvation period continued from 1993 to 1998 and during this time the famine killed up to a million people. The reasons of famine are economic mismanagement, natural disasters, collapse of the Soviet union and military-first policy. However, it is believed that from 2000 to until now, the famine still continues and people are malnourished; leading up to 3.5 million death. 

 

Collapse of the Soviet union 

State food distribution system finally collapsed in the mid 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet union. The new Russian government stopped providing loans, cheap oil and subsidized technology; Russia and former states refused to buy poor quality north Korean exports. Bilateral trade between two states fell from 3.5$billion in 1988 to tiny 100$million in 1995. In 1995 Kim Jong Il made written deunification from Russia.  

 

The collapse of the economy and the failure of government 

In early 1990s, North Korea lost subsides from Russia, China and the former communist states of eastern and central Europe. Reasons why they were unwilling to offer economic assistant are as economically anachronistic and leading to dangerous political instability in north east Asia.  

The UNDP calculated  that between 1992 and 1996 per capita income fell from 1005$ to 481$. Between 1993 and 1996, production in the heavy industrial and construction sectors all but collapsed, with 70% unemployment in those sectors. 

 

The military first policy 

The military first policy is defined as  "politics which solves all problems arising in the revolution and construction on the principle of giving priority to the military affair and advances the overall cause of socialism relying on the army as the pillar of the revolution." It all began when Chairman Kim Il Son visited an army in 1995. North Korea spends almost quarter of its GDP, to be precise 23.8% to it's army, navy and air force. Other countries spending to its military usually does not exceed from 5%. Mandatory military service continues 10 years, which is the longest service in worldwide. North Korea has around 1.19 million active troops according to some reports.