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Following the formal coronation of the Kim Jong Eun in early 2012, a boomlet of optimism followed some purported statements on reform: the so-called June 28 directive (“On the Establishment of a New Economic Management System in our Own Way”) and a speech entitled ““Let Us Effect Kim Jong Il’s Patriotism and Step Up the [...]
Amidst all the troubles, it is worth pausing to spotlight the good humanitarian work done by NGOs working in North Korea. We were recently reminded by of the work of the American Friends Service Committee. In 1997, AFSC was one of several NGOs that received permission to work directly with cooperative farms. Since then, it [...]
Writing about North Korea approximates writing fiction insofar as it is nearly impossible to conclusively disprove any statement. It is still difficult to determine exactly what the North Koreans might or might not be doing in the agricultural sector. The FAO is supposed to release an analysis of the food situation shortly, and hopefully this [...]
As I have observed in previous posts, the timing of North Korea’s supposed policy changes in agriculture—when the situation appears to be deteriorating—is a puzzle. Does the regime have the patience to the see the reforms through? Or as urban food shortages intensify will it revert to form and send in the military to forcibly [...]
We have argued in some detail that reform is unlikely to come with big announcements. Nonetheless, like others we got swept into the speculation that maybe—just maybe—there might be a sign from the SPA meeting. The silence on reform was deafening. The Education Bit The main initiative coming out of the meeting was the expansion [...]
Several weeks ago, we outlined what we knew–but mostly what we didn’t know–about the purported reforms. One theme is that we should not expect a straightforward or linear process; rather, reforms in one area might be coupled simultaneously with control measures or ongoing conflicts over implementation. Here, we provide some more background and details on [...]
In a recent post, we summarized the current news on the food situation in North Korea, now we’re intrigued by a recent piece in the MK Business News that notes that South Korea’s rice output has declined to its lowest total in ten years (projected at 4.26 million tons). The figure strikes us because it [...]
