Why North Korea Starves

For a long time, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK has been trying to make itself self-sufficient in food production. Something we might take for granted in other countries, is very hard for this one.

Reliable information about the country is hard to come by. The government's official channels are not exactly super credible and so people mostly rely on anecdotes or rumors. But we are going to do our best.

In this video, we are going to parse what we know about the DPRK or North Korea (I will use the two names interchangeably), their agricultural instability, and what the government is doing about it.

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[Asianometry]

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[schmitzi]

It is sad to see century old knowledge not being passed on.
Crop rotation was already done in middle age Europe and Eastern Zhou period farmers...

[RCSVirginia]

As one Polish economist noted, "If the communists ran the Sahara, there would be a shortage of sand."

[dennishover]

100% employment. Zero pay but everyone's got a job.

[phyarth]

Situation been bad in 90s when North Korea national TV broadcasted to people that plants are edible to survive famine, this broadcast reach South Korea, China and Russia so well documented.

[kingofrivia]

As a farmer its clear why they starve. They need more trees! That would help their soil so massively and especially since they mostly work by hand it would be perfect for classic agriculture with multiple layers of trees, bushes and root crops. Thats not done in the west because we dont have the workers, but thats their smallest problem. With this method they also dont need fertilizer

[pyro]

North Korea seems like that group of survivors in an apocalypse that get wiped out because while they may know what to do, their leader "Knows Better" and any attempt to correct them or fix the issue is seen as a great affront and challenging their leadership.

[universalparadox]

It amazes me the amount of high quality content you produce. Being from the US, it's been so fascinating learning more of current conditions and industries in Asia. Keep up the fantastic work!

[fstln]

I have been to the DPRK in the end of 2018 and I can assure that all the colored images in the video (no matter how old they might seem) are exactly how I experienced the country, the soils color, the people wearing black, the sky being foggy etc. I have even been in the room on the thumbnail… btw: great quality video! You could level up by adding your resources then it would be close to perfect scientific journalism! Keep it 🆙

[debbiehenri]

Recovering lost soil after abusing agricultural land for so long is going to prove a very difficult feat. Pesticide (and other chemical) residue is going to be something the North Koreans are going to have to live with for years.
(Makes me wonder quite 'what' they are spraying on those crops, since unscrupulous global companies might be selling off 'leftover' chemicals banned in other countries).

As someone who has been struggling to recover a patch of exhausted pasture (one third bare rock, two-thirds patchy grass with a few pockets of soil), I know exactly how long it takes - if you're not relying on bringing in soil from other places.
Making your own soil is a very time-consuming process requiring a lot of hard work. It makes me sad to hear that NK cut down its forests, removing all the potential for soil-making as well as stabilisation. They have pretty much doomed their agricultural capabilities for the future.

[shanehanson]

They take 70% of farm production because they have an insanely large army to feed.

[TheEvertw]

Excellent analysis, though obviously I can't judge its veracity.

Double-cropping like you describe is disastrous. You should produce intensive crops like potatoes only once every few years if you want the land to remain fertile.

There are a lot of things the North Koreans could learn from other nations, if they weren't ruled by fear.

[youcantata]

I have visited North Korea early 2000's and I saw nearly every mountains that meet my eyes are completely barren as l travel along the poorly paved road. Deforestation at its utmost. Not a single tree or green cover on the hills. They look just like desert or scene on Mars from National Geographics TV. No wonder that they experience eternal cycle of flood and drought. They will need tree on the hill, lots of them to recover her agricultural productivity and food self-sufficiency.

[BobZed]

Double cropping isn't necessarily a bad idea, but you need to chose your crops wisely. Potatoes plus more potatoes is a really bad idea. Potatoes plus beans or alfalfa can work.

[KanishQQuotes]

North Korea is as if the great leap forward and holodomor had a radioactive baby

[treborobotacon]

Imagine your country starving to death and not being allowed to grow a backyard garden because it's private property and not socialist.

[simunator]

keep the people starving so they don't have the energy to revolt

[paulbangert]

In a different video someone said that the people are starving because their government wants them to, and I thought that was a really interesting perspective. If you worry about your food every day and you're hungry constantly, you don't have enough brain capacity to worry about anything else, especially not about the lies of the government or even trying to leave the country, simply because all you want is to make that hunger feeling go away. And if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. When I work or just do something in my free time and I get really hungry all of a sudden, everything else suddenly matters way less than it did before. I lose my focus at work, my fun during my free time and many of my worries, because I really just want to eat something.
The government could do so much to improve all of this but I'm sure they're well aware that if the population had enough food and people wouldn't be hungry anymore, there would be too much capacity to think about different things, like discrepancies in the stories that the government comes up with. People wouldn't have that pressure of trying to grow enough food to survive.
It's essentially just a massive balancing act between leaving the population hungry and occupied enough so that they obey, while at the same time giving them enough food so they don't die. The massive famine disturbed that balance and led to a lot of death.

[cheeher]

Appreciate all the hard work but if you were to just tell me that their government is hording all the food for their fearless leaders fancy meals, I would believe it. Lol

[kc_]

Prior to the Khmer Rouge communists taking over Cambodia, Cambodia had one province (Battambang Province) that could feed the whole country of 6.5 million at the time. Sure, the country was poor, but the country already had self-reliance when it came to food. When the Khmer Rouge imposed collectivization practices and their principle of self-reliance, the country suffered two famines.