New Report from Food First: Famine and the Future of Food Security in North Korea

North Korea's ongoing famine, which began in the mid-1990s, seems to prove that its government cares little about its people and more about possessing nuclear weapons. But for several decades, North Korea's agricultural policy of self sufficiency fed all North Koreans with little help from beyond its borders.

A new report published by Food First, "Famine and the Future of Food Security in North Korea," examines how North Korea pursued economic and agricultural self-sufficiency in response to its history of occupation and isolation.

In discussing North Korea's policies, the famine, and how reliance on industrial agriculture may have hastened the famine, the report sheds light on North Korea itself and presents three possible paths that might contribute to stability in the region and help North Korea achieve greater food security.

"North Korean culture is steeped in the 'juche' philosophy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, and it is this ideology that shaped their ability to feed their people for decades," said Christine Ahn, Food First fellow and author of the report. "The exploitation of marginal agricultural land combined with the collapse of their major trading partner, the Soviet Union, and a series of climatic disasters sunk the country into famine in the early to mid 1990s."

According to the report, since the famine, the country has been forced to reassess its food system because the food aid it relies upon to feed 25 percent of its population has been adversely affected by nuclear tensions. The report argues that this is a ripe opportunity for North Korea to develop sustainable agriculture, while trying to maintain its agricultural policy of food self-sufficiency.

"North Korea faces tough decisions on how to achieve real food security, and sustainable agriculture will play a major role in their ability to do so," said Ahn. "While trade and eventual reunification with the South will help, many experts agree that food security through sustainable agriculture gives North Koreans their best hope of independence."

The report concludes that constructive engagement with North Korea could help them achieve food security rather than further isolating them and could also relieve growing tensions in the region.

To read the report, visit http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/policy/pb11.pdf

To speak with Christine Ahn, please call Food First at (510) 654-4400.