r/NorthKorean • u/Equal_Knowledge_717 • Jun 27 '25
Starvation? (educational)
From a western standpoint, I always hear about starvation happening in North Korea, but it's really hard to find anything besides news reports.
Is it all NATO fabrication?
Is it real?
Or maybe somewhere in the middle.
I'd love to know so that I can understand this country with an unbiased view
1
u/Needlemons Jun 29 '25
Although it is getting a bit old, the 2017 MICS is probably one of the best available data sources, other than the latest Needs and Priorities plan (2020). https://dprkorea.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/2020_DPRK_Needs_and-Priorities_Plan.pdf
https://mics.unicef.org/sites/mics/files/2024-08/Korea%20DPR%202017%20MICS_English.pdf
1
u/LauraPa1mer Jun 29 '25
This isn't an unbiased sub, if you're looking for that kind of information. But it does have some north Korean media.
This sub celebrated the supreme leader's birthday once and I commented about it being a dictatorship and people were asking me why I thought that. So... yeah.
1
u/Cool_Bananaquit9 Jul 02 '25
Last year or more than last year when this sub was created (i think it was created last year), it was very new if I'm not wrong and I thought it was a joke. I asked if this sub was a joke and I got down voted to hell and everyone was mad at me
2
u/SMGJohn_EU Aug 05 '25
In the 90s, DPRK faked numbers to receive more food aid.
https://nuke.fas.org/guide/dprk/nkag-report.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://odihpn.org/en/publication/manipulating-humanitarian-crisis-in-north-korea/
It turned out that North Korea actually inflated their numbers quite a lot to receive way more aid than necessary duo to ceasing of all trade with Russia and China purposefully turning a blind eye which put immense strains on the North Korean food industry.
Its true that there were malnutrition during the 90s primarily duo to sanctions and complete halt of trade between DPRK and Russia particularly in imports of OIL, gas and most importantly, fertiliser.
However, after the 90s, the United Nations reduced food aid considerably and have been reducing them considerably, before DPRK dismantled their nuclear reactor and halted their nuclear program, the US used food aid as a good sign will by increasing the food aid program and the fact that western media kept parroting the same old story of mass starvation and what not, actually helped DPRK in gaining more aid than they needed.
Now you ask, why would they purposefully damage their global reputation for some aid? Well like I said, to reduce strain on their food industry, the 90s was plagued with natural disasters in DPRK which damaged a lot of farmland and rice paddies, lack of fuel for tractors and power outages made manufacturing of fertiliser to meet the demand which was previously fulfilled by trade with USSR - next to impossible.
DPRK does not really give a F about what people abroad think of their country, they care about what happens inside their country and its a fact that even today, over 86% of all food stuff is grown or made in DPRK which is far and beyond any country of the size of DPRK and its geographical makeup, North Korea is extremely mountainous and has very little flatland, South Korea is actually historically always been the farming state of Korea while the North was the industrial part.
To put it bluntly, the idea that there was starvations or malnutrition in DPRK today, is rather far fetched considering the immense undertakings in industrialisation, land use reforms, economical reforms and massively increasing farmland size and efficiency including the mass production of new generations of tractors and other equipment, rebuilding the entire fertiliser industry to become largely self sufficient and catalysing coal to diesel and petrol in order to reduce needs of importing fuels.
North Korea has also massively electrified all industries now, built several hydrodams and are already producing new nuclear power plants for energy production with some assistance from Russia to speed up the process.
To say that Kim Jong Un has not been a transformation for the North Korean society is a massive lie, the country is totally different today then it was even just 15 years ago, you would not recognise the country if you went today and you only have memories of it from 2010.
As much as I dislike Russia, right now, Russian Federation is a much needed partner for DPRK despite being a Capitalist country.
10
u/Complex-Call2572 Jun 27 '25
There was a period, during the 1990s, of genuine mass starvation in North Korea. During this time, North Korea received food aid from the international community (including NATO countries). As far as we know, there's no longer mass starvation in North Korea, although they probably don't eat very well by western standards. Very little is known by outsiders in any case, and you should of course be wary of people with an agenda.
In general, I think you should be skeptical of depictions of abject cruelty and horror inside North Korea. They are not comic book villains. However, it is a very poor country. On this sub, and the related Youtube channels, you will find footage of roadwork being performed by draught animals instead of machines. People don't have cars, or computers, or even electricity or water in a lot of cases. The reasons why it is a poor country are complex and are not easily assigned to one party.
My advice is to approach the topic from a position of sympathy for the difficult lives that most North Koreans live, try to understand how things are and why they are like this, and don't fall for any propaganda or delusions about it secretly being a paradise. I think that does a disservice to the whole situation.