Draft on Claims

According to the research of WFP and FAC, 9 millions out of 24 million people, which is 1/3 of population, is facing poverty in North Korea in present. 16% of children combat malnutrition and 62% of children face poor development.

Why does this happen in North Korea?

Since the beginning of 1990, after communism fell with the end of the Cold War, North Korea lost the economic relationship with the Soviet Union, China and other East European countries and the economic became static and started running down. Plus, between 1995 and 1997, there were huge disasters of flood, drought and typhoon and agriculture suffered from lots of damage. Since most of North Korea’s land is covered by mountains, even before the fall of communism North Korea was having hard time to grow agriculture.

Yet, this agricultural problem may be just one of the reasons causing poverty.

Socialism is still alive in North Korea and 70% of population is depending on the public food supply system. However, present distribution is 1/3 of what a person needs per a day. Besides that, the government tries to reduce the amount of the supply. And it is assumed that 30% of national budget is used for the military affair.