In North Korea, people are 'still malnourished, but better fed'

When one thinks of North Korea, the narrative that often comes to mind is that it is a cloistered country with an ambitious nuclear program, a testy human rights record and a population that is going hungry. But while the country certainly needs humanitarian support, the situation there is not as dire as most people believe. Despite decades of trade, travel and banking sanctions from the U.N. Security Council and major economic powerhouses — including the United States, the European Union and Japan — Pyongyang has been able to grow its economy in recent years, albeit modestly. Data from Seoul, South Korea-based Bank of Korea notes real gross domestic product improved 1.1 percent in 2013, after growing 1.3 percent the year before. “We can definitely talk about significant improvement of living standards in North Korea over the last 5-7 years,” said Andrei Lankov, professor of Korean Studies at Kookmin University in Seoul and author of “The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia.” The past two years have actually seen marked transformation in Pyongyang and other major cities, which now boast high-rise apartment buildings and modern cafes. Taxis and private cars are increasingly seen driving through what were once notoriously empty streets. Increased food production is one factor that has contributed to economic growth in North Korea. According to Lankov, a series of agricultural reforms first enforced in 2013 — which encouraged “household-based private agriculture” — has improved yields since then. A rise in investments, particularly in the mining sector, and healthy export trade with China are major economic drivers as well. “Business-based foreign engagement has skyrocketed in 2012,” said Henri Feron, an international law scholar from the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, adding that the creation of new special economic zones and a wide-ranging modernization of North Korea’s foreign investment legislation starting at the end of 2011 have “given investors new legal guarantees and made the business environment attractive enough to fuel this boom.” Efforts to boost food security As in most developing countries, however, economic growth has only affected a part of the population. While the middle class has grown steadily since 2009 in Pyongyang and other major cities, the majority of North Koreans remain food insecure and live in areas that are prone to natural disasters, have little access to clean water and have dilapidated health facilities, an aid worker who commented on condition of anonymity told Devex. Some 2.4 million people, including pregnant women, children and the elderly, need food assistance in North Korea. Pyongyang has been gripped with a food crisis for decades, relying heavily on foreign assistance to feed its populations. The lack of adequate infrastructure, advanced technology, fertilizers and improved seeds, as well as harsh winters and natural disasters such as floods and droughts have had a significant impact on food availability. Still, about 16 million of the country’s 24 million people — or 66 percent of the population — are able to rely on the government public distribution system for its daily food needs. The informal market network is increasingly becoming an important source of food as well, especially when the PDS is unable to supply people with sufficient quantities of cereals. Further, a 5 percent increase in crop production — from 5.73 million tons in 2011-12 to 5.98 million tons in 2013-14 — averted a food crisis that year and reduced the cereal deficit from the 1 million metric tons annual average of the past two years to just half a million metric tons. But last year’s drought brought the estimated cereal deficit for 2014-15 back to 900,000 metric tons. Malnutrition not starvation Even so, the main problem in North Korea isn’t that people aren’t getting enough food. “The food security problem of North Korea is more a qualitative one — lack of enough vitamins, minerals and proteins at [the] right time in children’s life phases, leading to stunting,” Leo van der Velden, former deputy director of the World Food Program in North Korea, told Devex. According to U.N. data, one-third of children in North Korea are stunted and one-quarter of pregnant women are anemic. Agencies warn that “the scale of humanitarian needs in DPR Korea continues to be of grave concern to the humanitarian community” and a “constant and committed support from the international community is vital to ensure minimum living conditions for the most vulnerable.” But the highly politicized donor climate significantly influences humanitarian operations as agencies struggle to fund their projects. “The structural causes of vulnerability remained unchanged … and support is critically needed to address the underlying drivers of vulnerability,” UNICEF said in a recent report, which noted that chronic and acute malnutrition remains a public health problem. “It is important that this [economic] improvement, while being significantly more pronounced in Pyongyang, is felt across the entire country,” Lankov concluded, stressing that “people are still malnourished, but they are better fed.” How can we ensure efforts to improve food security takes nutrition into account? 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