Famine in North Korea
Markets, Aid, and Reform
Columbia University Press
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Famine in North Korea
Markets, Aid, and Reform
Columbia University Press
In the mid-1990s, as many as one million North Koreans died in one of the worst famines of the twentieth century. The socialist food distribution system collapsed primarily because of a misguided push for self-reliance, but was compounded by the regime's failure to formulate a quick response-including the blocking of desperately needed humanitarian relief.
As households, enterprises, local party organs, and military units tried to cope with the economic collapse, a grassroots process of marketization took root. However, rather than embracing these changes, the North Korean regime opted for tentative economic reforms with ambiguous benefits and a self-destructive foreign policy. As a result, a chronic food shortage continues to plague North Korea today.
In their carefully researched book, Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland present the most comprehensive and penetrating account of the famine to date, examining not only the origins and aftermath of the crisis but also the regime's response to outside aid and the effect of its current policies on the country's economic future. Their study begins by considering the root causes of the famine, weighing the effects of the decline in the availability of food against its poor distribution. Then it takes a close look at the aid effort, addressing the difficulty of monitoring assistance within the country, and concludes with an analysis of current economic reforms and strategies of engagement.
North Korea's famine exemplified the depredations that can arise from tyrannical rule and the dilemmas such regimes pose for the humanitarian community, as well as the obstacles inherent in achieving economic and political reform. To reveal the state's culpability in this tragic event is a vital project of historical recovery, one that is especially critical in light of our current engagement with the "North Korean question."
As households, enterprises, local party organs, and military units tried to cope with the economic collapse, a grassroots process of marketization took root. However, rather than embracing these changes, the North Korean regime opted for tentative economic reforms with ambiguous benefits and a self-destructive foreign policy. As a result, a chronic food shortage continues to plague North Korea today.
In their carefully researched book, Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland present the most comprehensive and penetrating account of the famine to date, examining not only the origins and aftermath of the crisis but also the regime's response to outside aid and the effect of its current policies on the country's economic future. Their study begins by considering the root causes of the famine, weighing the effects of the decline in the availability of food against its poor distribution. Then it takes a close look at the aid effort, addressing the difficulty of monitoring assistance within the country, and concludes with an analysis of current economic reforms and strategies of engagement.
North Korea's famine exemplified the depredations that can arise from tyrannical rule and the dilemmas such regimes pose for the humanitarian community, as well as the obstacles inherent in achieving economic and political reform. To reveal the state's culpability in this tragic event is a vital project of historical recovery, one that is especially critical in light of our current engagement with the "North Korean question."
A rigorous study. Anna Fifield, Financial Times
This book belongs on the list of required reading. Claudia Rosett, New York Sun
This is a haunting, exasperating, sobering look at an ongoing tragedy. Terry Hong, The Bloomsbury Review
The quality of analysis and prose is consistently high throughout. Brian Myers, Acta Koreana
A comprehensive and penetrating account. Swarthmore College Bulletin
A readable, well-researched, and insightful analysis... Highly recommended. Choice
Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform offers a systematic bird's eye view of the fundamental causes and consequences of North Korea's famine. Chung Min Lee, Asia Policy
Backed by data treated with appropriate caution, Haggard and Noland cogently present the sad North Korean story... [An] impressive work. The Lancet
Famine in North Korea is as good as the best of its genre. Raghav Gaiha, Development and Change
[An] essential book. Stephen Devereux, Journal of Economic Literature
This book will be of interest to those in the Korean studies field as well as among humanitarian and public policy circles Suzy Kim, The Journal of Asian Studies
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Foreword, by Amartya Sen
Preface
1. Introduction: Famine, Aid, and Markets in North Korea
Part I. Perspectives on the famine
2. The Origins of the Great Famine
3. The Distribution of Misery: Famine and the Breakdown of the Public Distribution System
Part II. The Dilemmas of Humanitarian Assistance
4. The Aid Regime: The Problem of Monitoring
5. Diversion
6. The Political Economy of Aid
Part III: Dealing with a Changing North Korea
7. Coping, Marketization, and Reform: New Sources of Vulnerability
8. Conclusion: North Korea in Comparative and International Perspective
Appendix 1: Illicit Activities
Appendix 2: The Scope of the Humanitarian Aid Effort
Appendix 3: The Marketization Balance Sheet
Notes
References
Index
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Foreword, by Amartya Sen
Preface
1. Introduction: Famine, Aid, and Markets in North Korea
Part I. Perspectives on the famine
2. The Origins of the Great Famine
3. The Distribution of Misery: Famine and the Breakdown of the Public Distribution System
Part II. The Dilemmas of Humanitarian Assistance
4. The Aid Regime: The Problem of Monitoring
5. Diversion
6. The Political Economy of Aid
Part III: Dealing with a Changing North Korea
7. Coping, Marketization, and Reform: New Sources of Vulnerability
8. Conclusion: North Korea in Comparative and International Perspective
Appendix 1: Illicit Activities
Appendix 2: The Scope of the Humanitarian Aid Effort
Appendix 3: The Marketization Balance Sheet
Notes
References
Index
Web Features
- Read CUP’s interview with the authors
- Read Marcus Noland's interview with AsiaSource
- Read a review of the book from the Financial Times
- Marcus Noland on North Korea’s Refugees and Economy via the WSJ’s Korea Real Time.