The 1997 Famine That Still Affects North Korea Today
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- čas přidán 1. 11. 2007
- Famine (1997): Incredible insight into North Korea's nationwide famine in which left thousands on the brink of starvation. Despite the need for international aid, the lack of access to the country made implementation an impossible task.
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Negotiations between CARE and the government Relief Committee are fraught. The Relief Committee complain CARE is not helping enough. The obsessively secretive government wants to direct all aid to the fertile rice bowl areas around the capital, because productivity here is highest. Then they will be able to feed the starving in the country's north. Williamson disagrees and is granted a rare permit to travel north to judge for himself. The team break the schedule and visit a nursery of their choosing. Here the hungry children are lacklustre and silent. Officially banned from filming in hospitals, desperate doctors allow the camera in. Hungry mothers are supposed to supply food for their children. A family with no men starve more than their more productive neighbours. If you don't work, it seems, you don't eat. This is no socialist famine. The government says the north is not a farming area and shouldn't get aid first. CARE says aid should go to the starving.
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Lighthouse Pacific (Mark Davis) - Ref. 0386
If the areas they were allowed into were that bad, I can't begin to imagine how catastrophic the mountain areas they were forbidden from entering must have been.
Everyone is starving and eating fake rice and wax fruit
Convince gov to let everyone that wants use an acre of free tax free land to grow their own food and live on. Automatic irrigation with moisture sensor. Food forest. Rain collection. Grey water. Dwarf food trees for smal places
@@bvegannow1936 the problem is that the mountains are not that fertile - 35% of the land in North Korea is apt for agricultural production - the situation now is better since their maintrading partner, China is much more rich than it was in the 90s and they have some trade with fully chinese companies that have no ties to the greater international market
Yes, you are correct about that. I grew up in the countryside in NKorea during this famine and if you was in my village, you wood have needed gas mask to breath air without vomit. The smells of death was that bad from all the dead body.
@Don Kong you grew up in North Korea? I have so many questions
The realest NK documentary, not the ones that purely focus on Pyongyang
@Island Dreaming 94 WTF are you talking about?
@@Barabel22 probably talking about most NK docs only show Pyongyang? Seemed fairly easy to understand
@@psycheevolved1428 he was obviously talking to someone else
IKR? I’m beyond tired of videos that say it’s showing NK secrets but it’s the same tourist stops given to any and all who visit.
So where is the part where they show the US sanctioning North Korea from food?
Or how they said they would give rice for cow tails so they cant even manually farm?
I love how this CARE representative bargains , he refused to back down
He's like bruh I need to see the toilets
@@carsnob if he just gives them all the resources Kim jung I'll would of just stuffed little Kim un's face and left the people to starve
I'm surprised they were allowed to film this..
It's hard to watch kindergarten children with obvious signs of starvation. I'm a father and this makes me want to cry. The North Korean government at the time, needed to get their heads out of their ass.
you mean Kim Jong Un?
+troy stewart Kim Jong Il is already dead. His son is in power now.
polifatts At the time during the floods/drought/famine they're talking about, Kim Jong Il was still in power. Need to check the documentary's date but he may have still been alive at this time...not sure. Edit: I just checked...Kim Jong Il died in 2011. This documentary was uploaded in 2007 but I believe it was made much earlier.
Yeah the NK Govt. A-holes are so mindless
The NK goverment aren't gonna get their head out if their ass anytime soon unless the whole evil kim dynasty is brought down. Hope one day the NK people will be liberated.
Sadly, You know that all of those local officials who let them film and exposed the reality of what was going on there were more than likely all executed. They still did it though knowing what the consequences would be. That's extremely heroic. They knew that exposing the truth was more important than their own lives. People like them prove that humanity DOES still exist.
I am sure they're not.
@@daraka1754 I mean Kim uncle was literally killed by him by blown off by anti aircraft canon I doubt local officials will survive
@@daraka1754 i am pretty sure they. The CARE guy was not allowed to talk to citizen. But they cant touch him because they need him. So they will probably execute those families hurting the image of NK. ‘Bringing great shame upon the nation’ or some bs charge.
@@daraka1754you obviously don't know much about North Korea....these people were likely killed and the next 3 generations of their family will be imprisoned because of this video.
I was given food from a church food program as I am unable to work currently. I was able to turn down rice, milk and soups as I had enough in my cupboards from a previous visit. It's a stark reality that the aid I so casually received could save lives, then and now.
how have only 200k people seen this in almost 14 years. This is an excellent film
Agreed, Journeyman Pictures is consistently good in reporting.
He goes as a representative of one of the worlds biggest NGO. Meaning, not only is he very well connected, with many powerful and rich people sponsring him, North Korea officials need his aid so he was treated very well. That is why for instance they were able to film in places no one has been able to before.
8:41 Skin flaking and peeling is a sign of malnutrition. This kid is definitely showing the first signs of chronic starvation and malnutrition.
I get angry anytime I think about that country. The injustices that go on over there actually put me in a bad mood just by thinking about it, and yet, I can't stop watching videos like this.
I'm the same way, and I feel weird replying to a nearly decade-old comment but there you have it, I really relate. The fact that NK is allowed to continue to exist in it's present state because the politics of east and south east Asia are too touchy and the whole communist vs capitalist thing, meanwhile people are suffering in concentration camps, and even though the famine is long over, there are still malnourished people in NK. It's just outrageous.
I hate to think about it, but most of these people and their families are either in prison camps or dead..
I dont even have kids but i couldnt help crying looking at those kids. Although i know, my comment here isnt gonna difference, may those poor souls rest in peace who died of hungef from this famine.
The girl at 10:41 got to me. She's in so much pain yet barely has the energy to cry. And here I am with tears draining down my face, knowing that I'm useless in that situation. But what I know I can do is be aware of the situation and not look away from it. This little girl will always be in my memory.
Every North Korean in this video was suffering horribly but the little girl got to you. LOL no sympathy for anybody else huh
Silver Surfer I and everyone else including this woman knows and feel like you do. We are blessed
the fat Kim family are enjoying the luxury life.
I can't think of a name :/ ~ incredibly heartbreaking, Omigosh!!! Those poor kids!
@@Freddy_Confetti You're so weird, he didn't mean that at all
That kid at 13.45 brings tears to my eyes, hope he survived.
sameer madhusudhan I seriously hope not. I had serious deficiency disease in adulthood that caused nerve damage etc. Having them at that young age. You seriously hope not.
Only if he managed to successfully escape North Korea. Sadly death is preferable to living in that sort of hell.
No way he survived the winter.
Those who live there still envy the dead, for at least their suffering has ended. It's sickening when the regime starves the populace so that no-one will be strong enough to overthrow them.
Only the True Believers get fed.
Not enough foods >>> manultricient >> low productivity >>> No farming
Repeat
damn,that hit so hard,i wept in tears for humanity.
King Jong Un is an idiot, so he didn't know this
That's what nationalism, isolationism, and a weird mixture of Stalinistic communism, and a cult of personality results in.
It's a very mountainous country with low quality soil so in any case itd be next to impossible to eke a living out of the land.
The saddest part is that's been over 20 years since this documentry aired and hardly anything has changed and North Korea is still just like this today
that's not true. this happened right after the collapse of the USSR and during a massive flood. things are much better today
Plus add covid repercussions now 😕
The country is stuck in time. They've barely changed since the 70s, even a lot of their tech looks like it's from the 50s-70s. May have changed but they used to still have tons of CRTs and vacuum tube computers. Ton of machinery, tools, buildings, etc. date back to the Cold War since once the USSR started going broke in the 70s and 80s they scaled back aid to North Korea and even when they _were_ sending aid it was outdated by western standards. Some defectors have even noted how North Korean media including TV shows and their versions of drama and comedies both havent changed in decades, relying on the same tropes and jokes and plot lines from decades back. Funny thing is North Korea isnt the first Korea to be called a "hermit kingdom", back in the 1800s they were similarly isolated and that isolation leads to stagnation, and back then the country had barely changed from the 14th to the 18th centuries.
I'm never gonna complain about my life ever again.
Man I'm surprised their faces aren't blurred. I wonder if any of the people shown in the video got executed
Probably yes. It's so sad to see that the head of this country is swimming in luxury while his people are slowly fading away...
Every Korean in this film is probably dead.
why would they be executed? its him filming.
DarknessFido i mean they said that filming in hospitals are forbidden, but the local officials let them because they need help. Those officials and probably the doctors ere punished for letting it happen.
@@nyxx0122 True. But the filmer held most of the responsibility so he would've got into the most trouble.
Poor little children, this makes me so sad.
:(((((
People in the U.S.,Japan, South Korea and other countries blame North Korean regime for developing nuclear weapons and launching ballistic missiles. But this video teaches me the real victims which Kim Jong Un is respensible for are Korth Korean people themselves, little children in particular. Thanks for posting this.
I just don't get it. There is no reason for this suffering. Even though there seems to be no hope, I will still pray for these people that live outside of the capital.
Heavy sanctions implemented by the West is a huge contributing factor. It's the people that end up suffering, and not the regime.
@@buttkid3548 What caused the famine was the collapse of the USSR, who were giving NK fertilizer, as NK was trying to be self-sufficient w/ regard to food production, because they didn't want to get caught in between China and Russia's power struggles (Russia used to just provide most of the food NK consumed). With huge amounts of NK's money going into vanity projects in the late 80s and early 90s, they were totally unprepared for that collapse and actually been self-sufficient. What made it worse were a series of floods and droughts that hit NK during the years 1994 to 1998. So basically, no fertilizer, no subsidies (or very few), consecutive. natural disasters that damaged what little arable land they had, a blown-out budget from over-spending in the 80s, and a new leader with the ego and maturity level of a Nero or Caligula. It was a recipe for disaster. NK had been refusing international aide for a few years, and then they finally had to admit they needed help. Although, unlike what we see in this doc, most aide was given sight unseen and ended up being controlled by either the elite in Pyongyang or the black market, so many continued to starve even after aide began flooding in.
Sanctions didn't help, but when NK tried to build the world's tallest hotel in 1987 (to be completed in 1989, but it's still never been completed to this day), they expected a huge amount of international investments to flood in, and to have a tiny pocket of gambling and capitalism in their capital city. That money never came, and the hotel was never finished. But even if they did get the 200,000,000 dollars they were aiming for in 1989, somehow I doubt that money would have gone to the people, especially with the death of the previous leader. I mean, during the famine, NK's leader (the son of the man who dreamt up the hotel) continued to have 5 star chefs flown n to cook him gourmet meals. Do you really think 200,000,000 would be budgeted correctly enough to prevent the deaths of as many as 3.5 million people? Or that the economy would be restored for the other 20+ million people? Personally I doubt it, but hey maybe some lives wouldn't been saved.
Anyway, my point is, I don't think this can just be blamed on international sanctions.
The endless number of times that the CARES official must just want to breakdown and cry...he remains steadfast, and driven to assure his plan is clear, and with stern understanding-God Bless him.
13:18 It is really heartbreaking. The baby is literally asking why is he being punished just for being born in a wrong country. Shame on all the communists across the world. You are responsible for this misery.
Exactly!!! Communism is disgusting!!! This baby got to me as well. Honestly, seeing that poor child made me both feel so grateful and so upset at the same time. Mostly because I feel like that child could have been me if I wasn’t lucky enough to be born in a prosperous country. This was filmed in 1997, and they stated that the baby is 18 months old here. I’m 27 as of writing this, so I would have been about the same age as this baby at the time of filming. It’s crazy to think that while I grew up healthy and never had to worry about food at all, poor children like these were simultaneously experiencing hell on earth. It just feels strange. I wonder if that baby boy made it. And if he did, I wonder what his 27/28 year old self is doing now. Is he still trapped in the worst country on earth? Or has he escaped? Only God knows. But I cannot deny how disturbing this was to watch….
Best NK documentary. Went to places no one can go. JM Pictures are the GOAT of docs. Congratz!
This is probably the only really honest look we'll ever see of real life in the real NK. I know it's nearly 20 years old, but I'll bet very little has changed since then for the better. And I can't imagine NK ever again letting anyone else film scenes like these.
No, after 23 years, we can pretty safely assume that they’ve got things back on track so nobody is forced to starve, at least.
@@robertyianni3623 'nobody' is quite a stretch. Look at the Daily NK news and there is still lots of issues with the country, it has improved, but still not doing well by any means.
@@juliancumming6893 good answer. It's obvious not close to what it used to be but it has huge room to improve
@@juliancumming6893 what out-stands me is all Kim had to do is give up his nuclear arsenal in exchange for lifting the sanctions on North Korea. Can you imagine how his country would thrive from a 3rd world country to a superpower in a few years
If that CARE representative thought his hotel room was a safe place to speak, he clearly didn’t consider or mention the wired room or video recording going on in the room. Beware of teapots (and wallpapers) in hotel rooms in North Korea.
That's more of a problem nowadays than it was in the 90s, NK is always a few years behind technologically, and the gulf was even wider back then. Now it's less so, but still. I've seen people in NK hotels where the writing is really obvious, too, they don't hide it, even.
@@venus_envy yeah they just have a ton of shady cables running out of the TVs and other electronics. Dystopian af.
How can you just not care?
This government is so cruel!! 😠😠😥😥
Shame on them.
Kudos to the CARE guy who remained firm and insisted to ensure help goes to the deserving places.
The government is cruel but this famine was not due to cruelty. It was due to incompetence and isolation from the world.
They relied on a single crop, and when that crop failed due to disease, there was nothing else to eat. This is why North Korea later was forced to diversify its food production. Not only rice but then also potatoes and later more.
It's comparable to the Irish potato famine, where Ireland relied mostly on potatoes. And when disease struck the potatoes, there were no potatoes and little else to eat.
Shame on all imperialists which made sanctions - they are the reason for the famine.
@@Thor.Jorgensen sadly this kind of people will never understand
A similar famine happened in Ukraine in the 40's, and the Soviets engaged in a similar campaign of exporting grain to "more deserving representatives of the proletariat" in regions closer to the capitol. So when Moscovites today say Ukrainians are their brethren, the older generation who remembers having to eat mud pies (and the occasional bout of cannibalism) laugh bitterly@@Thor.Jorgensen
Narrator: “They have to survive on 100gms /day..They’re not allowed to beg...they’re only option is to sit & wait for the next starvation ration to come..and it sometimes doesn’t even come at all”
Interviewer: When was your last ration delivered?
Man: “About 10 days ago..”
😮😢😢😮😠😠😠😠😠
Hell of a guy to go into a country where you can be jailed indefinitely for any "reason" the government wishes. Sad, sad situation.
technically any government can do that if they go to enough effort to cover up their actions
kinda, his situation was very different. He goes as a representative of one of the worlds biggest NGO. Meaning, not only is he very well connected, with many powerful and rich people sponsring him, North Korea officials need his aid so he was treated very well. That is why for instance they were able to film in places no one has been able to before.
@@felipeb1032 Also, if they were to harm him, no other NGO would feel safe giving aid to NK.
Wow, the moment reality slaps your face. when you are aware, these poor souls probably have passed on... Ghost in the wind!
So instead of using the resources to help their starving ppl they built a LARGE city for show?!? A city where NO1 lives in NOR works in -- I just do not understand how some1 can b so cruel- he KNOWS what's going on in the outer parts of his country and yet turns a blind eye and feeds himself very well -- 😳😭😳
The city was there before the famine, it was the 80s boom that saw much of the more modern buildings in the city be built, including that massive pyramid hotel that never got finished, which actually sucked up massive amounts of money from 1987 to 1991 or so, helping to pave the way for the famine.
5:23
That little girl just takes my heart away...Her little smile when she sees that camera..
It breaks my heart to see her living in that horrible country.
Its terribly sad to see to what extent the Cold War between the USSR and the US damaged the world. Although pointing fingers is pointless, North Korea should think more about its own people that its killing rather than "the enemy".
You are so right. It is going to take forgiveness and love to solve this problem. Sadly as you can see with our Serb friend sometimes faith takes a back seat to nationalism. It is actually a heresy in his (and mine religion) called phyletism.
Chilling and heartbreaking.
As a mother, my tears are flowing for these precious children. My God, CARE was offering aid but needed to see where it would go to and access the situation. But the North Koreans wouldn't allow that, they couldn't even see the lavatories! It wouldn't surprise me if they kept any aid instead of giving it to the starving people outside in the city that was shown on this video. How on earth can a hospital have no food? It's so, so sad to think that some of these little darlings could be dead now.
polifatts god works in the hearts and minds of those who help❤️
polifatts does free will ring a bell, huh?
Francesca Nguyen aint no god in N korea
That's exactly what North Korea does. They take the food aid and keep it for the rich and for tourists. They even brag about it. The hungry people never see that aid which is why so many have stopped helping North Korea.
In fact, the average seven year old child in North Korea is roughly eight inches shorter and twenty-two pounds lighter than their brother or sister in South Korea. They are called "The Stunted Generation." These children were born during the famine that struck North Korea in the mid to late 1990's; from 1994 to 1998.
I commend this aid worker. I dont see how I can keep myself together while doing these surveys.
This video brought tears to my eyes. There really is no justice in the world...
This the REAL news! These are the things that are important. People should be allowed to eat. Perhaps the money that N.Korea uses on pretense and appearances should be redirected toward human need.
and why would the "Great Leader" want that. it would only mean they might gt healthy and defect to China then South Korea
+Darren Thompson I agree with you fully but starvation is a weapon and always has been a weapon
The North Korean government spends more on their nuclear program than food for the entire nation.
+Bob Eagle This isn't news since this is almost 20 years old...
And the issue wasn't that people were too poor to buy food but that there simply was no food. You can't magically turn money into food.
+Bob Eagle perhaps they shouldnt just get missile happy everytime someone gets them a little agitated. maybe then we wouldnt have stopped supplying them food lol. what if every country acted like them and we just fired off missiles everytime we got mad lol there wouldnt be a world left anymore so i say let the bastards starve because they put themselves in this situation
edit: im talking about the recent cur off of supplies not the one from 97
one of the most genuine reports from north korea I have seen, there is no hope for this people
I am an Iraq Veteran. I've seen war. I've seen poverty.......
I cried at 13:47 ...... her knee....
😢
The white aid worker is smart AF.. Hats off to him. The North Koreans probably thought WTF when dealing with him. lol. The NGO who employs him would be stupid not to keep him in his position. He has a grip on his job and does it extremely well.
this is so sad and frustrating.
Amazing work by the humanitarian organization, trying to get to the people.
I really wonder what happened to the local officials that showed the foreigners the real state of affairs in NK, it's been almost 10 years since the video was shot. I do admire their courage to try and help the people, but I'm afraid they ended up in some concentration camp like Yodok
Probably they are, but at least they have shown some courage.
The video was uploaded in 2007, but it's more likely that it was shot in 1997 or around that time.
Actually, the film itself was shot in 1997, but it was posted to youtube in 2007. Remember youtube only came into being in 2006. So lots of news sites probably uploaded their old material in the first few years of youtube, if they were early adopters of the site. The famine officially lasted from 1994 to 1998. So, it would've been long over in 2007.
@@venus_envy the famine had been going on since the 70's or even earlier.
DPRK didn't put these kind of people in concentration camps
This is so sad to watch..
+Kend VanHun Well, duh, because we have the money to..?
This was a very chilling video. Thanks for posting this eye opening video. It seems that North Korea is, a decade later, entering another period of famine.
The baby's face at 13:16 made my heart sink... The citizens of North Korea are victims!! They need global aid so desperately and I can't believe even today nothing has been done
they do get world aid.. the government is not sending it to them. That's why guides are hesitate or not willing to give. Once they give to the state, it doesn't go where the people need it most.
You have a good heart, bless you for it. Sadly this isn't the only place in the world where the most vulnerable suffer while the despots in power eat and live like kings.
David Lemont Well they are kings.
Well I didn't vote for them.
David Lemont People don't vote for kings.
This is the best doc I've seen on North Korea, the only one who was able to show the devastating truth
It's been 13 years ! How many children there are still alive? SMH !
Girl at 5:51 is super cute! I wish these kids get a better future...
@8:10 those children's faces break my heart. damn it. i can do nothing and it hurts.
As a man, I feel really humbled watching this. I am truly grateful for what I have. Peace be on their souls...
damn the preschooler wearing red to the far left looks like my brother, my heart was crushed by that
He thinks he has privacy in his hotel room? Loooool
His access is amazing in comparison to others who have visited. I hope he was able to get aid to the rural children and their families.
Simon Williamson what a great humanitarian.. very inspiring!
No food, no future, no sound, no movement. Poor kids...
The logic behind "give food to the food producing regions, so the extra food then can be given to the starving areas" is like they are talking about a machine, where they disconnect some malfunctioning parts in order to get an extra boost from whatever works OK enough.
Thank you, CARE!
I just really want to fly my ass there and buy all the food I can with my money and give it to the people outside the capitol of Pyongyang
Very chilling video, this...
This is so sad, I found it so difficult not to cry watching this.
At 8:44 that boy needed help like don't film me take me with you. My heart hurts for these children
This was just on my recommended page because I was just interested with NK this year and this is the first time seeing a docu outside of pyeonyang. Did this even push through? because seeing all the NK defectors in YT that are explaining the current situation. It is still has the same description and this docu until today.
I'd be worried the rooms are bugged.
I had to stop watching. It sickens me that it's happening again in this day and age. The NK government will never back down or learn from past mistakes and always take their pride over deaths of starving people.
Can you imagine being able to feed your starving country just by allowing food aid to come? and spending some of your rich government money on rice & clean water....but do nothing! And take whatever there is for you and your workers high up in government jobs???? DISGUSTING!!
And on top of all this.... they don’t know anything else exists! They have NO IDEA that their situation is NOT normal!! 😢😢😢😮
Keep this documentary circulating please. It’s so sad to think so many of those children are gone now, along with many adults to starvation or other atrocities. What a horrible regime.
That's what I've been looking for, finally my search ends here🙏👍
Here we are in 2021 and history is about to repeat itself
wow thats nk like youve never seen it before, great footage!
youtube recommending me videos from 13 years ago.
The amount of content is mind-blowing.
You could literally waste your life on this site.
The scary part is us government cause this .
very good video very informative so sad to say the least....keep exposing the truth to the world it make a big difference
Anybody know if they ended up sending and monitoring the aid? I hope those poor kids got food :/
The guard that was watching the guard in this documentary is the SAME man that was whispering to civilians what to say during their interviews for VICE in 2017 ... what year was this documentary?
that little girl at 10:28 shook me, i so feel abt her and her family, are they still alive now 10 1/2 years later?
eye opening video
How did you get access? On the Beijing-Pyongyang train i was caught for filming the country side
Kevin Yang how u see there?
I feel so miserable and helpless... :'''(
I wish the best to the international humanitarian aid organisers and and the poor people.
The “Dear Leader” shows up unannounced to your apartment to see how you’re living....yes, only the workers that are “paid well”...for show. 😠😠😠
It's absolutely sad and annoying this is happening. There are children and babies suffering, and it's the point of the cure that is so simple to the rest of the world and pretty much free and yet this government let's it happen and in complete denial of so much death.
This does not need to happen.
People throughout the world have a bad day when they get a ticket, when their partner leaves them, when food spills on them, when they are stuck in traffic and much more. When people watch this, they need to know what they are going through from the smallest to the biggest, is NOTHING compared to these people that just want to live and be happy and just eat. God please help them!
Any follow up? I salute the man (CARE rep), I wonder what happened afterwards...
My question is why does the government want to direct the aid? I have a few ideas but still
A big problem is that if you give them help they will claim it came from their government making those people have an even more positive view of them or not even give it to the people at all.
pls, god bless these children away from famine, jail, and the loss of parents. god bless them
Thank God for CZcams to help truth get out to the public!!!
God Bless journeymanpictures!
PS: I WISH I had the ability to teleport and give food to every single starving person in North Korea... and maybe help them escape.
Exactly, and he is the only person who gets to drink wine. And watch a large collection of south korean and chinese movies.
Don’t forget American ones
It's really something in the magnitude of 0.5 billion dollars + that's needed every year. Just for the WFP programme. Not something a country with billions in trade deficit can afford. Because the production has fallen so much a lot is needed. There total exports is just over a billion dollars...
2.5-3.5 million people perished during the "Arduous March"/Famine of 1995-1998. That's 10-15% of the country's population. On a per capita basis, this was more horrific than the Soviet Golodomor (winter 1932-1933) and China's Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) combined.
All because soviets and china invaded korea
There is an interesting contrast here, in that the Holodomor was mostly targeted at ethnic Ukrainian farmers who were resisting the collectivist program of agriculture & the Great Leap Forward had a lot to do with a breakdown in centralized management of food supplies. The Korean Famine was kind of a combination of these with an honest-to-goodness series of natural disasters, thus exacerbating their feelings of an international PR embarassment. It coincided with the breakdown of exports from both the USSR and China that had sustained them in the previous decades, and thus exposed the country's inability to sustain its own population, BUT by that point, the personality cult of the Kims was so unassailable that even on the local level, no one could fight against the ration system.
It *did* lead to a huge boom in the black market economy (and also many hundreds of thousands fleeing to China along those same illicit networks, not dissimilar to Coyote smuggling on the US-Mexico border), BUT it's important to remember than many of these people were still victims of brain-washing and condiitoned to believe they *deserved* to starve, because they weren't adding anything of value to the system... which is the most horrific part, imho, but the one that I think led to the truly epic scale of the Starvation.
Broke my heart seeing that malnourished baby. This was filmed in '97 so that child would have been about my age at the time (born in '96). I wonder if they survived, likely not. Also, you know the situation is dire when even the minder has their own minder...
I was also born in 1996 and was thinking the same thing the whole time. It’s honestly so disturbing. While I’m 27 years old now and thriving, this poor baby is probably in a grave somewhere in the North Korean countryside…. It’s hard to even wrap your head around it.
It's a 20 year old program but the issues remain the same: food and medical care over nuclear weapons.
And to establish food distribution lines that favour general population and not just to civil servants and the military.
What he doesn’t understand is that even the people producing the food do not eat their own food they sell it.one woman defector said she raised chickens and sold all the eggs and they got eggs once per year
It's been 22 years since this video , I wonder if it's any better ?
More like 22
This is filmed in 1997
I hope the people in the video are still with us
So sad I cried those poor starving people 😢😢😢
I feel very sad to see this video.
The children are so weak because of malnutrition they can’t even cry properly. God help and bless these poor helpless children.
This breaks my heart so bad 😢 💔 . Do they not have a government that can help these babies ? So sad
Those babies.....so malnourished and sad. #Heartbreaking 🤒😥😥😖
This film is by ABC TV originally and was called North Korea Famine. The journalist narrating is named Mark Davis.