Another Bleak Report on North Korea’s Food Crisis

In a recent newsletter, the Good Friends, a South Korean aid group, said that only those people in North Korea with relatively good living conditions have managed to live on daily meals, while poorer people have been on the verge of starvation in advance of spring, typically a season in which food shortages are at their most severe. [Hankyoreh]

The Hanky, overlooking the impact of the North Korean regime’s own rejection of most international food aid, cites three factors in the worsening situation: last year’s floods, of course, but also dry weather through the winter and high international food prices, which reduce the buying power of donors.