North Korea between Collapse and Reform

The misfortunes of the Democratic People' s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) provide scant satisfaction to that nation's many critics. North Korea's economy faltered in the 1970s, declined in the 1980s, and collapsed in the 1990s. Recent visitors to the DPRK describe living conditions outside the capital of Pyongyang as medieval.1 Since the 1990 collapse of trade relations with the former Soviet bloc, and especially since 1995-when massive floods devastated an agricultural sector already weakened by years of communist mismanagement-the North Korean people have begun to starve. And this despite an estimated $200 million worth of food annually from China and almost $1 billion in food aid during 1995-98 provided by other foreign governments and international aid organizations. An extensive foreign survey of North Korean hunger conducted in fall 1998 revealed that 62% of North Korean children under the age of seven had stunted growth due to malnutrition.2 The youngest and the oldest are the most vulnerable to food shortages. Estimates of the number of premature deaths range from 300,000 to 800,000 annually, cumulatively totaling one to three million deaths by year's end. Many of those who survive will be mentally or physically impaired for life. The North Korean authorities are doing little to