The isolationist country depends upon its annual rice harvest to feed its people but severe flooding wiped out both the 1995 crops and much of the 1996 harvest. The problem is so severe that even normally reticent officials will openly admit the problem. It is true, we are suffering food shortages owing to the natural disasters which fell upon us for three successive years. Now we are determined to solve the food shortage problem by importing food grain. The scale of the crisis confronting international relief agencies is enormous.
Aid workers say some people are eating shoots, roots and grass to survive.
But in contrast to some of the most alarmist reports, the great majority of North Koreans are somehow surviving. The notion of mass starvation here appears vastly exaggerated. It is a case where the food consumption goes down gradually. The food crisis has generated widespread speculation that North Korea may be on the brink of collapse. However weak the economy though, the country's political system appears intact.