North Korea Faces Famine

Prayers for the people, women and children of North Korea in the name of Jesus the Christ
Millions of North Korea is facing its worst famine since the 1990s, the World Food Programme said in a stark warning of the continued effects of the country's economic failure.

A woman holds her malnourished twins at a hospital in Horyiong city Photo: REUTERSBy Richard Spencer in Beijing 6:44PM BST 30 Jul 2008


"Millions of vulnerable North Koreans are at risk of slipping toward precarious hunger levels," Jean-Pierre de Margerie, North Korea director for the organisation, told a news conference. "The last time hunger was so deep and so widespread in parts of the country was in the late 1990s."  The famine in the 1990s was one of the world's gravest in recent decades, and yet passed largely unnoticed in the outside world until it was well under way due to the country's historic secrecy. 

 Hundreds of thousands - some estimates went as high as two million - people died, from a total population of 22 million. Tens of thousands more fled over the border into China, where they continue to eke out a precarious existence, many on the run from the police, others sold into marriage.

The immediate triggers for the current shortages are the floods and consequent poor harvests of last year. Mr de Margerie said there was an urgent need for pounds 10 million of new food supplies, on top of aid already sent by neighbouring countries, to last till this year's harvest.  "We are running against the clock here," he said.
The North Korean regime experimented with reforms to the state supply system in recent years, but has since revoked them and reimposed central control of the rice supply. The price of rice is now nearly three times what it was a year ago, Mr de Margerie said.

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