North Korea Bringing Back Its Public Distribution System

Sympathetic observers have been telling us for years that the dissolution of the Public Distribution System North Korea once used to feed its people represented an irreversible step toward economic reform. I’ve tended to believe the view of Andrei Lankov and Andrew Natsios, which is that the PDS essentially began to come apart under North Korea’s economic stress began to take its toll in the years after 1991, when the USSR collapsed.

Now, Professor Lankov informs us that North Korea is trying to bring back the PDS. If you subscribed to the reform theory, you may unsubscribe now.

Some might say that North Korea’s decision to resurrect its stalled public food distribution system (PDS) is a return to the good old days. Others might say it is only a return to the old days.

It is unclear whether the isolationist state can successfully bring back the once-popular food program. Still, it’s a given that all attempts to make the PDS work will be undertaken as it is not just a matter of food, but also of government control.

In recent days officials across North Korea have been busy preparing for re-implementation of the PDS, which in fact never really died but rather mostly slipped into disuse. In 1994-95, the PDS stopped functioning in the countryside, and by 1996 it was pretty much the same story in the major cities. It was not officially cancelled since ration coupons continued to be issued. However, there was either no food or only a fraction of the required rations.

If the regime is actually striving for a fairer distribution of food–something of which I’m skeptical–this may be the one occasion when I’ve ever sincerely wished the North Korean regime good luck.