Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Drought In North Korea Brings Back Fears Of Widespread Famine

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/24/3452431/north-korea-drought-crops-famine/

BY ARI PHILLIPS ON JUNE 24, 2014

North Korea is an isolated, repressive and opaque dictatorship with little information exchange with the outside world. However, as the impoverished country dangles precariously on the edge of a return to famine, some news reports of the severity of the current drought are sifting across the border.

On Monday, Reuters reported that North Korea’s state media said the prolonged drought has catalyzed the country to deploy some of its million-person army to protect crops. The drought is the worst in over a decade, with some areas experiencing the lowest rainfall levels in over 50 years. As a result, the country is experiencing the worst spring drought in more than three decades. State media also said that higher-than-average temperatures are exacerbating crop damage.

Linda Lewis, of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-led NGO, confirmed the media reports to Reuters by email. “They expressed concern about ‘serious drought’ conditions and the impact this was having on spring ploughing and paddy field preparation,” Lewis said.

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The unpredictable regime under Kim Jong-un is dipping the country further into a dilapidated state of poverty, and according to at least one defector, leading to an increase in prostitution, drug abuse, and human trafficking — often driven by the desperation of not having enough to eat. In the meantime, the government continues to push an ill-begotten facade of superiority by building things like a shiny new water park to distract from the struggles of everyday life.

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