The Guardian also wonders why North Korea is exporting rice.

Their story cites this post, and gives me the last word.

2 Responses

  1. Because ultimately the regime does not care about the starving masses, it may claim too but there’s no evidence to suggest they’ve done much of anything to solve the problems they’re facing.

  2. I’m in no way defending or supporting the regime, but even were a government with a malnourished population that is honestly and genuinely working to remedy that situation would in fact have a reasonable course of action in exporting a widely grown staple like rice.

    Rice is a filler starch, which keeps people going as long as they are nourished in other ways. If you’re growing lots of rice but you’re not growing or raising much of the other things one needs for proper nutrition, it would make sense to sell that rice and get other foods.

    Again, not defending or supporting the regime in any way, but merely stating that exporting rice may mean little. In most years, I reckon, North Korea has enough food to feed everyone adequately, but it chooses not to because food can be used as a tool for control, and not because it lacks food as a resource.