North Korea’s Food Crisis May Lead to Political Explosion

Andrew Natsios (picture), a former director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said on Wednesday, “North Korea’s food crisis is a form of urban famine and can trigger social unrest and lead to political explosion.”

Natsios, the author of “The Great North Korean Famine” (2001) which deals with the food crisis in North Korea in the mid 1990s, at a recent hearing on the world food crisis under the House financial committee said, “In the case of North Korea, the grain price hike is highly likely to lead to famine.”

“Urban famine that has the greatest impact on people living in small and middle cities is very extraordinary and it is politically much more unstable compared to rural famine in which residents die out quietly,” he said. “It reminds us of the mid 1990s when at least 2.5 million people died of hunger.”

He added, “The food crisis in Asia may be the result of hoarding. If the Japanese and Chinese governments release millions of tons of rice in the Asian market, hoarding can be prevented.”

Natsios, who served as a vice chairman of “World Vision,” an international relief development and advocacy organization, visited North Korea several times to survey the current food crisis and released a comprehensive report on famine in North Korea.

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