Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform 1st Edition

by Stephan Haggard (Author), Marcus Noland (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0231140003

ISBN-10: 0231140002

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In the mid-1990s, as many as one million North Koreans died in one of the worst famines of the twentieth century. The socialist food distribution system collapsed primarily because of a misguided push for self-reliance, but was compounded by the regime's failure to formulate a quick response-including the blocking of desperately needed humanitarian relief.

As households, enterprises, local party organs, and military units tried to cope with the economic collapse, a grassroots process of marketization took root. However, rather than embracing these changes, the North Korean regime opted for tentative economic reforms with ambiguous benefits and a self-destructive foreign policy. As a result, a chronic food shortage continues to plague North Korea today.

In their carefully researched book, Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland present the most comprehensive and penetrating account of the famine to date, examining not only the origins and aftermath of the crisis but also the regime's response to outside aid and the effect of its current policies on the country's economic future. Their study begins by considering the root causes of the famine, weighing the effects of the decline in the availability of food against its poor distribution. Then it takes a close look at the aid effort, addressing the difficulty of monitoring assistance within the country, and concludes with an analysis of current economic reforms and strategies of engagement.

North Korea's famine exemplified the depredations that can arise from tyrannical rule and the dilemmas such regimes pose for the humanitarian community, as well as the obstacles inherent in achieving economic and political reform. To reveal the state's culpability in this tragic event is a vital project of historical recovery, one that is especially critical in light of our current engagement with the "North Korean question."

Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A rigorous study. (Anna Fifield Financial Times)

This book belongs on the list of required reading. (Claudia Rosett New York Sun)

This is a haunting, exasperating, sobering look at an ongoing tragedy. (Terry Hong The Bloomsbury Review)

The quality of analysis and prose is consistently high throughout. (Brian Myers Acta Koreana)

A comprehensive and penetrating account. (Swarthmore College Bulletin)

A readable, well-researched, and insightful analysis... Highly recommended. (Choice)

Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform offers a systematic bird's eye view of the fundamental causes and consequences of North Korea's famine. (Chung Min Lee Asia Policy)

Backed by data treated with appropriate caution, Haggard and Noland cogently present the sad North Korean story... [An] impressive work. (The Lancet)

Famine in North Korea is as good as the best of its genre. (Raghav Gaiha Development and Change)

[An] essential book. (Stephen Devereux Journal of Economic Literature)

This book will be of interest to those in the Korean studies field as well as among humanitarian and public policy circles (Suzy Kim The Journal of Asian Studies)

Book Description

In the mid-1990s, as many as one million North Koreans died in one of the worst famines of the twentieth century. Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland present the most comprehensive and penetrating account of the famine to date, examining not only the origins and aftermath of the crisis but also the regime's response to outside aid and the effect of its current policies on the country's economic future. North Korea's famine exemplified the depredations that can arise from tyrannical rule and the dilemmas such regimes pose for the humanitarian community. To reveal the state's culpability is a vital project of historical recovery, especially in light of our current engagement with the "North Korean question."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Columbia University Press; 1 edition (February 27, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0231140002
ISBN-13: 978-0231140003
Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 1 customer review
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,345,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #377 in Books > History > Asia > Korea > North
- #2402 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Disaster Relief
- #5055 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Asia

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A Careful Study that shines a bit of light on the mysterious DPKR

ByHerbert L Calhounon July 27, 2010

Format: Paperback

In this carefully done study, in which, to a large extent the authors hands were tied behind their backs, Haggrad and Noland nevertheless, with the help of many secondary sources, and a great deal of hindsight, were able to "piece together" and come away with a pretty solid explanation of how the famine in the DPRK actually occurred. All the reasons one would expect are included in their explanation, as well as a few unexpected ones.

The main conclusion the authors draw is that the primary cause of the most recent famine (referred to as "the great famine,") was the result of the mis-guided attempt by its current leader Kim Il Jung, to make the DPRK a self-reliant country. Without either the natural resources or the industrial might to do so, this became little more than an impossible "pipe dream" of a corrupt communist tyrant. The elucive national dream of self-sufficiency could not be pulled off either by Kim Il sung or his son, the present leader, Kim Il Jung, and thus this folly made the nation vulnerable to both economic and natural shocks. Both of which eventually came to pass.

Additionally, the DPRK authorities, being slow to accept the realities of their own impotence and incompetence -- in the face of a monumental calamity -- also failed to act in time to avert the worst famines in recent history. Complicating an already bad situation, nature was unkind to the DPRK leader and conspired with untimely floods in rapid succession before the nation could recover or find its economic footing from previous disasters, that also included massive food shortages .

Expectedly (due to the brutal authoritarian nature of the regime), international aid offers were hampered by distribution problems and by the government's own reluctance to allow normal monitoring and accountability. As a result, only indirect indicators exist that can attest to the size of the success or failure of international food aid efforts?

In addition to saving many lives, the only positive outcome, was the unintended consequence, that out of necessity, the North Korean people developed an indigenous black market for the trade and distribution of food that rivalled even international aid efforts, and that has survived the famine -- and appears might even outlive Kim Il Jung -- as that dictatorial government has been forced to make peace with these new "Western-like" ad hoc marketing arrangements.

That this was allowed to happen at al in the DPKR's brutal dictatorship, leaves the authors hopeful that (again perhaps out of necessity), the inhuman and barbaric Communist government may have no choice but to open itself up to reforms that could eventually lead to radical changes needed to humanize the DPRK's political system.

However, as Kim Il Jung fades fast into the sunset, he continues to build nuclear weapons and is busy preparing his son for succession. One can conclude from this that the world should not hold its breathe that any reforms will come about in the foreseeable future. A fast and interesting read. Three Stars.

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