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In a terse story on February 7, the Korean Central News Agency reported that "price (sic) of foodstuff is skyrocketing worldwide, sparking serious concern" and "is expected to continue to soar in the coming months." Yonhap reports that this story was followed by several others on global food and energy price inflation, including on the Korean Central Broadcasting Station and Radio Pyongyang.
Given the selectivity in what official news sources report to the North Korean public, these reports are hardly accidental. They no doubt reflect an effort to shift some of the blame for the country's rapidly rising food prices on the perennially hostile foreign environment.
Unfortunately, such arguments are only partly supported by the data. Food prices--although not rice prices--are indeed exploding worldwide, and are a legitimate cause of concern. But as the figure above shows, food prices in North Korea are rising much more rapidly than world food prices. The gap reflects the perennial problems the socialist agriculture system has in producing adequate supply at home. But it also reflects a variety of country risks, including a rapidly depreciating exchange rate and rising import prices set in motion by Pyongyang's own military provocations.
