Food shortage in N. Korea reaching crisis level

Posted on : 2008-06-06 12:28 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
N. Koreans could begin starving in August without food imports or int’l assistance

A large number of North Koreans may begin starving to death beginning in August if the government does not dramatically increase its imports of food or find assistance from the international community.

At a seminar on the food situation in North Korea organized by the Korea Rural Economic Institute on June 5, Gwon Tae-jin, a senior researcher with the institute, predicted that the North is likely to be facing a serious food crisis beginning in mid-August and continuing through the fall harvest season. The crisis is expected to worsen throughout the year.

“If supplies of foods such as potatoes and barley, which were harvested in the spring, run out, the North will have to depend on outside assistance from mid-August until the harvest season. In consequence, the North will suffer its worst circumstances beginning in August,” Gwon said.

When millions of North Koreans died of starvation in the late 1990s, the food shortage in the North amounted to about 800,000 tons, but this year, the figure will reach almost 1.05 million tons, Gwon estimated. As of the end of May, the amount of grain that the North had in storage was approximately 550,000 tons. The North will have to secure an additional 1.05 million tons of grain to maintain a balance between supply and demand, according to the researcher.

“A food crisis has already begun in North Korean households. As all North Korean residents are not in trouble, humanitarian aid efforts for North Korea should target the underprivileged as it works to find solutions. Aid efforts should also include measures to support farmers because there are limitations in the market,” Gwon emphasized.

However, regarding the idea that the North will be facing a severe famine due to a sharp decrease in the amount of food available in the North compared to last year, Lee Seok, a researcher at the Korea Development Institute, said, “We can’t be sure about this until additional evidence comes out.”

Lee noted that data from North Korea is not always reliable, saying that outside organizations, including South Korea’s Rural Development Administration and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, have estimated that the amount of available food in the North dropped from a high of 6 percent from November 2007 to March 2008; North Korean data shows the figure to be about 20 percent.

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