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The food shortage in North Korea is getting worse, with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization classifying the Stalinist nation on Wednesday as a country in crisis requiring external assistance. The FAO said a ¡°sharply below-average cereal harvest in 2007 led to an estimated cereal deficit for the 2007/08 marketing year of 1.66 million tons.¡±
Experts on North Korea and North Korean refugees in South Korea say the situation is similar to the mid-1990s, when the country was hit by famine that left anywhere between half a million and 3 million people dead. A source said the price of a kilogram of rice, which stood at 1,100 North Korean won at the end of last year, rose to 2,500 won, which is the monthly salary of an ordinary laborer. During the mid-1990s, people died of hunger after the price of rice skyrocketed to the level of a monthly wage and public food distribution was terminated.
It is reported that public food distribution was stopped in Pyongyang this month. One North Korean refugee said there are many cases ¡°where you can¡¯t get food even if you have the money.¡± Because the memories of the famine still linger in the minds of North Koreans, many choose to hoard rice at home instead of taking it to market. The recent hike in global cereal prices and China¡¯s decision to limit food exports are aggravating the situation in North Korea.
The best and the easiest way for North Korea to obtain food is to improve relations with the South, but experts predict the North will continue to hold out. Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, said Pyongyang seems to think if it requests food aid, it would lose the initiative in the current standoff. It seems North Korea is waiting for 500,000 tons of rice aid the U.S. mentioned, and looking to China, which is holding the Summer Olympic Games in August, to weather the food crisis. Rumors of a planned visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to China and Vietnam are thought to be related to efforts to secure food.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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