The collapse of North Korea's economy has caused food prices there to skyrocket and created new groups of people who can't afford to buy what they need to live, the UN World Food Program said yesterday.
While the UN agency now has enough food for its distribution projects, many in North Korea are still hungry, said Richard Ragan, the WFP's country director based in Pyongyang.
"What you've got is a chronic problem," he told reporters at a briefing in Beijing. North Korea is "chronically short of food."
Starting next month, the World Food Program will have enough food to feed its target of 6.5 million people for the rest of the year and beyond, following new shipments from Japan, the US and Russia among other countries, he said.
That's a sharp shift from earlier this year, when the agency had to cut food aid to more than 4 million people because donations from abroad weren't coming in, he said.
But the agency is already working to line up foreign food aid for next year, he added. "We kind of live hand to mouth."
Further, a huge percentage of North Korea's 20 million people remain hungry, he said.
"They don't produce enough food to feed everyone," he said.
Meanwhile, the market price for food is shooting higher as the country experiments with capitalism following the collapse of its government-driven economy, he said.
Rice has surged to 700 won per kilogram compared to 130 won per kilogram last year, while the average wage has stayed steady at just 2,000 won a month, he said.
North Korea's won trades at an official rate of about 130 won per US dollar and unofficially at about 1,600 won per US dollar, he said.
Since the government's food rations aren't enough to live on, "people are being forced to go into the market sector," Ragan said. "As the economy shifts, there are winners and losers."
Among the winners, more people are now allowed to make money, whether it's by binding brooms or making straw mats or selling charcoal, he said.
Many of the entrepreneurs are women who have presumably been laid off by money-losing government factories first, he added. "I've never seen a man in a commercial stall or kiosk."
While farmers still have to meet grain quotas, they can also make money on the side, Ragan said. They can sell their surplus, or a wheat farmer might sell his chaff to a pig farmer as animal feed.
The fitful shift to a more market-based system has created new groups of vulnerable people, such as urban residents who have no access to land or other means of generating income, he said.
Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable of all, he added. Destitute parents still drop off their children at orphanages, often with the hopes of picking them up again after a few months, he said. "Orphanages are still a common coping mechanism for people who are suffering food shortages."
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS