Daily NK: Gov’t Not Delivering Food Rations

Last fall, when the North Korean government ordered the World Food Program out of the country, I wrote a series of alarmist posts based on the simple syllogism that, since 6.5 million North Koreans depended on WFP aid as of last August, and that the aid was cut off as of last December, that millions of North Koreans were going to go hungry in the months to follow. Last week’s North Korea Freedom Week events gave me the opportunity to ask knowledgeable persons in and out of government about the current state of the food situation. None claimed to have detailed knowledge, but none reported a rise in refugees crossing the Chinese border in search of food, or other ominous reports about a decline in food supplies. This report was the only one that suggested growing food insecurity in some regions.

I had been contemplating writing a post that would happily report that my predictions had been excessively alarmist, but this new report from the Daily NK gives me some pause:

On the 23rd, North Korean sources said that from April only some areas of Pyongyang have gotten rations, and local areas were already cut. Greeting the Workers’ Party Foundation Day (10.10) last year, North Korea restarted rationing, yet from the beginning, the rationing did not advance as planned, and furthermore, from this spring even Pyongyang has undergone a severe shortage of food.

Mr. Kim, who is a North Korean trader and now stays in Dandong, China said, “Officials working at the central agencies now (the Party, Ministries, Court) in Pyongyang have gotten rations, but workers working in general factories and small companies in local cities have to resolve their April and June’s food portions themselves.

Predictably, the hunger is having a disproportionate impact:

Mr. Kim stated, “Despite a severe shortage of food, some wealthy, powerful people are persisting well. Yet other people who rely on the food rationing of factories mainly go to local areas to exchange food with goods. It led to a situation where North Koreans have to withstand starvation by all means, before new potatoes come out.

The Daily NK even has the remarkable ability to track the sharply rising price of food on the black market.

Rice prices at Jangmadang of Shinuiju are traded at 1,000 won($0.33) to 1,200 won($0.4) per 1kg, and Yongcheon rice (yielded in Yongcheon) at 1,200 won per 1kg. Chinese rice is 900 won($0.3) to 930 won($0.31) per 1kg, and corn is 300 won($0.1) to 400 won($0.133). Shinuiju rice is a little more expensive than that of other cities, and its wheat flour is cheaper. It is because rice comes in from other cities, and Chinese wheat flour is distributed to each city via Shinuiju.

Rising black market prices, the sale of valued possessions, and the slaughter of draft animals are all initial signs of famine that observers should watch for. The entire report is a must read, and it suggests that North Koreans coped with the reduced food supply through the winter, but that coping strategies are nearly exhausted.

In fact, famine has taught North Koreans how to hoard and gather food, and generally, to survive on fairly meagre assets. The same is no doubt true on both governmental and indivual levels. What’s more, I tend to believe that while officials in Pyongyang range between apathetic and malignant when it comes to feeding North Korea’s least-favored regions and classes, persons with detailed knowledge of North Korea (Andrew Natsios and Andrei Lankov, to name two) report that local officials often try to get food into the bellies of the hungry. Thus, the government’s response can’t be viewed as monolithic, although the overall effect of national policies is the use of food as a weapon of political cleansing. Finally, North Korea’s food situation probably varies dramatically by region, due to geographic favoritism (click and scroll down for map) and the awful quality of North Korea’s transportation network (it’s easier to send food from Nampo on the West coast to Chongjin in the east by ship than by road or rail).

New famine or not, millions of North Koreans are on the precipice of starvation and will be stunted for life without a swift influx of food aid. All the more reason for China and South Korea to stop abetting the regime’s discriminatory distribution by giving their food aid without any effective monitoring.

It’s moments like this one when I’m exceptionally proud to be affliated with the Daily NK (I occasionally submit pieces to them — of course, without compensation). What other media outlet would be able to compile such a detailed report? It’s an outstanding example of North Koreans finding their own increasingly independent voice. Their reports could help raise the alarm internationally and save many lives by doing so.