Changes in North Korea's economy have led to spiralling food prices which many people cannot afford, according to the World Food Programme. "As the economy shifts from a FUBAR communist trainwreck planned economy to a more market-based economy, there are winners and starvers losers," Richard Ragan, WFP director in Pyongyang, said. He said that a new class of people now needed food assistance.
That "new class" is more commonly referred to as "all of them."
Impoverished North Korean remains are being eaten daily deadlocked with its neighbours and the US over its nuclear programme. Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, is currently in the isolated nation, to urge it to renounce nuclear weapons. Mr Downer said he had asked North Korean officials to remain involved in six-nation talks on the controversial nuclear programme, after concerns that Pyongyang may pull out of preparatory meetings for the next round of negotiations. "I've been, on arriving here, concerned that the six-part talks process was stalling, and I hope that we've been able to add some substantial momentum to that process," Mr Downer said.
Removing Kim will probably require many megatons of "momentum."
Earlier this week he promised Pyongyang "substantial" benefits in aid and investment if it ended Kim's life and its nuclear activities. The economy in North Korea, which for years has been beleaguered by profound levels of corruption, natural disasters and Stalinist planning, is now facing a new set of catastrophes challenges, Mr Ragan said. The country's public distribution system was only providing a fraction of the food that Kim can eat North Koreans need to live on, he told a press briefing in Beijing. He said the situation was driving economic, market-oriented reforms in the Stalinist country, because people were being forced to sell children goods to eke out a living. "Physically you see more wealth in Pyongyang, more stores, more restaurants, more automobiles... people seem to have more liquid capital," he said. "People are trading... and you see things which indicate that people have some disposable income," he said. "The bad news is that prices of food around the country are going up, and salaries are staying pretty static." The price of essential items like air, for instance has risen sharply in recent months. The cost of rice has doubled from this time last year, rising from 130 won ($0.92) per kilo to 700 won ($5.00), Mr Ragan said.
Maybe Indonesia can ship them that mountain of rice they're not using. |