North Korea - Famine

How bad is it? According to South Korean intelligence officials, North Korea's population has dropped to 22 million from 25 million in 1995. By mid-1997, grain rations were down to 3.5 ounces a day per person, the result of two years of flooding and bureaucratic mismanagement of agricultural lands. In North Korea, 4.82 million tons of grain are needed as food for the country's twentysomething million people every year. In 1996, grain output dropped to 2.5 million tons in unhulled state. And most of that had been cut with grass and tree bark. In 1995-96, the famine affected at least 5.2 million people, left 500,000 homeless and ruined 359,936 hectares of arable land. In 1997, food rations dropped to a level four times lower than normally considered essential for a healthy population. By mid-1999, it was thought that more than 2 million North Koreans have starved to death, though the government has admitted to about 220,000 deaths. The country has only about half the grain it needs to feed its people and has been dependent on international aid since 1995. Perhaps juche needs a douche.

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