Economic and Social Despair
The North Korean government does not acknowledge the true plight of its less wealthy citizens who are constantly struggling with hunger.
Poverty"This photograph highlights the lack of electricity use and energy infrastructure in North Korea, in high contrast to South Korea. |
Agriculture"From these pictures, we see the diligence with which North Korean farmers tend to their fields, as well as the manual nature of North Korea’s agricultural system. The lack of agricultural development and agro-technology certainly effects North Korea’s perpetual food shortages." "Frequent weather-related crop failures aggravated chronic food shortages caused by on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, poor soil quality, insufficient fertilization, and persistent shortages of tractors and fuel." |
Hard Labor"The following photographs depict the World Food Programme’s initiative that enlisted North Koreans...to dig out a roadway. These 'economic development initiatives' were tentatively received by Kim Jong Il’s regime, but are highly monitored by the North Korean government to ensure that North Koreans and international aid workers have minimal interactions." |
Hunger
"Every day you wake up in the morning and you wonder what you are going to eat, and you worry all the time." "Before I left, I thought North Korea was the best country in the world. After I came out, I saw this was not true. I was ashamed because it's so poor." |
The constant hunger has had very noticeable physical effects on the North Korean people, including stunting their growth.
"A life marked by persistent, unending hunger is reflected in the bodies of North Korea's people. In April this year, the North Korean military lowered its minimum height requirement to 4 feet 7 inches, just slightly taller than the average South Korean fourth-grade student." |
Gender Roles Shifting
"Imagine going to work every day and not getting paid. Then, one day, you're told there's no work to do — so you must pay the company for the privilege of not working. ... Mrs. Kim['s] husband's job [is] in a state-run steel factory requires him to build roads. She can't remember the last time he received a monthly salary. When there are no roads to build, he has to pay his company around 20 times his paltry monthly salary, she says.
"He had to pay not to work for about six months of last year," Mrs. Kim told NPR, sighing. "You have to pay, even if you can't afford to eat. It's mandatory."
So she is the one who must keep the family alive, as her husband wrestles with this state-sanctioned extortion.
- Louisa Lim, NPR