How North Korea Became So Insanely Poor

North Korea has arguably the worst economy in the world. However this was not always the case. In fact for a brief moment in time it was the most industrialized nation in Asia and persistently outperformed South Korea for decades. How did not North Korea go from the “Idea socialist state” to the worst place to live in the world?

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--Contents of this video--------------------------------
00:00 - North Korea: The Worst Place To Live in the World
03:00 - Korean History & Japanese Occupation
05:08 - "The Liberation of Korea"
07:28 - The Korean War
09:49 - North Korea's Economic Golden Age
12:45 - Soviet & Chinese Aid
14:24 - The Beginning of the End
17:16 - Prioritizing the Military
18:49 - Economic Envy
20:39 - The Great Famine
22:55 - Life After Collapse
25:02 - How North Korea Still Exists

-- Sources used ---------------------------------------------
- The Impossible State North Korea, Past and Future by Victor Cha
- Unveiling the North Korean Economy: Collapse and Transition by Byung-Yeom Kim

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[carson]

No, North Korea is actually the richest and most prosperous country in the world (help me my family is being held hostage)

[Re-Hong]

So basically, NK was the adopted child of USSR and China. During the divorce, the parents fought to keep their son, while spoiling him to maintain their trust at the cost of the parent's withering relationship. At this point NK was so spoiled that he has a hard time of taking care of himself needing mommy China to conitue to support him.

[karabenomar]

My father worked for a humanitarian organization in NK in the 00s. They attempted to solve the famine problem through food processing. The two staple foods were rice and sweet potatoes. Supposedly there should have been enough but the sweet potatoes would freeze and spoil during the harsh winters, leading to huge waste. So the plan was this: Build processing machines that would turn the potatoes into starch which then can be stored and will not spoil easily. Foreigners who had spent some time in the country warned the organization this plan wouldn't work because there is no electricity to run the machines. All the electricity goes to the rice threshing machines during harvest season. The North Korean officals assured everyone that *of course* there will be electricity and then plan went ahead.
My father was the head engineer for that project and with the help of the organization and local workers they started build these machines. It was a logistical nightmare because literally *everything* you needed right down to the tiniest screw had to be imported from China. You couldn't buy a thing locally. The North Korean government put no effort into helping the project but instead spied on anyone and everyone involved.
Against all odds, the project was completed, all machines installed and hooked up to the electrical grid. They were never used. You see, there was no electricity to run them...
This isn't just a story about communist mismanagement, but also of humanitarian aid mismanagement and the waste of kind-hearted people's money.

[bookfish]

Nothing says "self reliance" more, than relying on your neighbors to supply you with everything.

[johns]

My favorite part of this story is that North Korean self-reliance means relying on Communist states for your food, oil, etc.

[Wasserbienchen]

As a south Korean, I am overwhelmed with sadness every time I think of North Korea. We are one people, and yet the north suffers so greatly.

[WarpRulez]

It's actually incredible and fascinating how North and South Korea basically switched places in terms of wealth and economic prowess. Nowadays South Korea is one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world (and widely known as such), while North Korea is known for its extremely poor and primitive living conditions. Hard to believe that 50 years ago it was pretty much the reverse.

[Maadhawk]

North Korea basically has become the very sort of dystopian existence that writers, like George Orwell, warned about in novels like "1984" and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury.

[ItsAVolcano]

Kim Il Sung's entire strategy for his countries economy was playing Soviet and Chinese governments off of each other. He lucked out dying right after the Soviet Union fell so he never had to lead North Korea without the massive support nets propping it up.

[Frenchylikeshikes]

What is extremely sad about North Korea, is that this country actually has a huge potential in many aspects, one being tourism: the place is beautiful and could bring so many foreigners. But it is also a perfect example of how incompetence can ruin a place. Really sad for the people there.

[historyiscool]

Ever feel useless? Remember North Korea has elections.

[Jimmy-Mc]

North Koreans: please, we have no food or medicine!

Kim family: you will make up for these shortcomings by doubling your steel output this week and every week forward

[MalenkyGoblin]

You forgot to mention the "Sunshine Policy" of the 90s.
South Korea did try and help North Korea during their famine, and it eased tensions between the two side considerably. South Korea's President Dae-jung Kim won the Nobel Peace Prize for this policy and was hailed as the Nelson Mandela of the East.

[billyjean]

For me, as a South Korean, it's so sad that ethnically entirely same people in NK are the poorest on Earth. Because of Division of Korean peninsula, the dream of Korean co-prosperity had been ruined. Korean peninsula is small, and even it's divided...

[siggevibes]

Absolutely fascinating history, I had no idea it was this complex, even though I should have imagined so, it just didn't cross my mind. Thanks for a great video!

[Unknown-swpu]

This sounds an awful lot like the situation with my country and our neighbors. Down to our allies, political tensions, economies and their investments in the military to the point where they can’t afford food. We’re kinda going through a cold war right now but it’s heating up so rapidly. If they don’t attack us now, we’ll have way too much influence to be stopped (we’re allied with every country in the west and we’re expanding to Asian allies). Their population is extremely brainwashed, to the point where they think that every imagery of our country is fake because we can’t possibly be more developed than them. I feel like if a war starts, they will definitely fall into a totalitarian dictatorship.

[donreid]

It's so funny how time changes things. I have a great friend that I worked with for several years who was originally from the People's Republic of China. He and I were born only a couple months apart from one another. It turned out that his Dad was a 'Chinese volunteer' in the Korean War, while my Dad was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Here we were, friends while our Fathers were both enemies so long ago.

[upresins]

I remember my late Dad talking about the NK workers in Iraq during the late 70s early 80s. They would work hard, and long hours, without holidays. I believe their salaries and overtime were all probably collected and remitted to NK, while these guys would be given just basic sustenance- food, clothing and shelter. They all wore similar work apparel or uniform, and walked from their accommodations to site in a formation, which other workers found unique. They never mixed with others and kept to themselves.

[gabesongs]

All that destruction and level of death and that was just 600, 000 tons of bombs that the US dropped in Korea. It is therefore unfathomable that the US dropped 6 MILLION tons on Vietnam and Laos a little over 10 years later.

[nahuelma]

I'm always just so fascinated by North Korea. It's just captivatingly tragic to me that a place like that exists today