NK Investigative Report 2001

North Korea Investigative Report

Week 2 - Famine Part I (cont)

An In-Depth Look

The North Korean government hasn't released official numbers, but the estimated number of citizens who have died of starvation since 1995 is staggering. Research from independent groups places the death toll at 3 million. Refugees we've spoken with say that North Koreans estimate among themselves that one-fourth of the country's 22 million citizens have died. Since 1990, North Korea has had a food shortage of more than 1 million tons every year, recently increasing to two millions tons.

A major reason for the famine can be blamed on a deterioriating North Korea economy. The Heritage Foundation and Wall St. Journal, ranked North Korea last out of 155 countries in the 2002 Index of Economic Freedom. Former leader Kim Il Sung attempted to double rice production by ploughing up marginal land on hillsides, uprooting trees in the process. As the economy worsened, farmers cut down more trees to barter with China for food. As a result of the deforestation, mountain topsoil that would normally absorb rain was washed away. Thus normal amounts of rainfall caused major flooding in farmlands and destroyed crops. North Korea also lost many trading partners with the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, which cut off significant supplies of oil and coal.

North Koreans have been taught that the U.S. is causing the food shortages, but several refugees we talked to said some people are blaming the leadership skills of Kim Jong Il, who became the country's leader after the death of his father in 1994. One boy said kids call him "Kim Bae Tae," or "Big-bellied Kim." He also asked in disgust how this leader could be considered great when he couldn't even feed a small country.

To help with the food shortage, refugees say the government allocates small, daily rations of rice porridge with ground corn. On four special days each year - the birthdays of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jung Sook, and communism - the government normally gives everyone a meal of duck, cookies and liquor. In recent years, however, refugees say this hasn't been the case.

Food is available to buy in stores, but few can afford it. Out of desperation, people are scavenging for plants, tree bark and any animal they can get a hold of. Despite efforts by the international community to provide hunger relief aid to North Korea, refugees we've talked to have yet to benefit from it. They are aware that countries, including the United States and South Korea, have sent food in the past. One person said that the government had given food to people for foreigners to see and take pictures, but demanded the food back once they left.

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