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Millennium Development Goals in North Korea

North Korean mother and child

Although party to the Millennium Declaration, North Korea imposes such restrictions on information that it is impossible to obtain the reliable baseline statistics necessary to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Nor is it clear what policies the country may have formed to achieve the Goals. North Korean representatives were due to attend the Millennium + 5 New York Summit in September 2005, but in the end failed to appear, further preventing the outside world from gauging what progress, if any, has been made since 2000.

It is known that North Korea has a free and extensive health care system, but the quality of care is extremely low due to outdated skills and shortage of drugs. A 2006 Unicef report described the antiquated infrastructure for health services, water and sanitation as in “marginal condition”. Similar decline is likely to be found in education facilities.

Development prospects have also deteriorated following the designation of North Korea as a state supportive of terrorism, effectively precluding grants and loans from international finance institutions such as the World Bank. Estimates during 2007 suggested that 30% of adults are underemployed, that the average wage is just $2 per month and that many state sector employees are not paid on a regular basis.

Food Security in North Korea

North Korea: malnutrition © CAFOD

What is certain is that North Korea is not only the poorest country in North Asia, but lacks even the foreign currency necessary to create food security for its people. In average harvests, production of rice and maize is thought to fall short of basic needs by 15%-20%. Harvest failures in the mid-1990s led to a full scale famine in which up to 2 million people died, often described as the worst global humanitarian disaster of that decade.

The traditional sources of food aid have been South Korea, China and the World Food Programme (WFP), their distribution networks often hampered by fickle and opaque government regulations. For a period during 2005/06, North Korea refused all food and fertiliser aid, in deference to the dogma of self-reliance and in denial of a WFP nutritional survey conducted in October 2004 which found that 37% of children suffered stunted growth whilst a third of all mothers were malnourished and anaemic.

An elderly North Korean woman © Mercy Corps

In 2007 WFP reported that “having enough to eat is still a daily struggle for one-third to one-half of all North Koreans”. Most people are dependent on the government’s Public Distribution System, a notoriously inefficient programme which is supposed to ensure fairness through defined rations but which instead tends to favour elitist groups at the expense of others. The rations themselves typically fall far below the recommended daily calorific intake. In cities people may be able to buy extra food whilst those in the country may enjoy the luxury of a smallholding. Reports of people foraging for wild plants or selling their last possessions for food continue to filter out of the country.

Food stocks in North Korea are at their lowest in the months leading up to harvest in September. Severe floods in 2007 destroyed an estimated 16% of the harvest boosting the need for aid from 1.0 to 1.4 million tons. Given the uncertainty of the acute international political tension over North Korea’s nuclear programmes, there is concern amongst development agencies that 2008 will be a particularly difficult year.
Politics in North Korea

There is no politics in North Korea. The country is a totalitarian communist state, permitting no opposition to the Korean Workers’ Party, nor any independent civil society. Although officially it is an ‘independent socialist state representing the interests of all the Korean people’, with sovereignty residing with ‘the workers, peasants, working intellectuals and all other working people’, in reality power lies within an elite group.

De-militarized Zone between North and South Korea © yewenyi (flickr)

This aversion to democracy can be traced back to the aftermath of the Second World War. Despite United Nations plans for nationwide elections in the Korean peninsular after the Second World War, Kim Il Sung formed a separate North Korean government and, when independence was declared in the South in 1950, North Korea invaded, triggering the Korean War. After the fighting ceased in 1953, the Peninsula was formally divided just north of the 38th parallel, where North and South Korean border guards still face each other today, no peace treaty ever having been signed.

Kim Il Sung developed a strong personality cult that remains embedded in North Korean culture. Households were required to display his portrait, and ‘Kim Il Sung revolutionary thought’ was mandatory in schools. After his death and succession by his son Kim Jong Il in 1994, the personality cult has not been imposed as ruthlessly but it is periodically invoked when popular support needs to be revived.

North Korean Farmers work for self-sufficiency © Food First / Institute for Food and Development Policy

North Korea is governed under the Juche philosophy, first propounded by Kim Il Sung. Juche is translated as ‘self-reliance’; however, a more accurate description would be that North Korea is to be the actor in its own affairs and not to be acted upon. The strength of Juche as a national ideology together with the leadership cult may explain why North Korea failed to evolve its political and economic system to keep up with the rapid pace of change in China and countries of the former Soviet Union, its most natural allies. The label of the “hermit kingdom” has been the consequence.
Human Rights in North Korea

Kim Jong Il and his generals

North Korea’s brand of ideology offers few concessions to human rights. Tight controls on information are such that most of what we know about human rights in North Korea comes from those who have evaded the ban on leaving the country. The UN Commission on Human Rights has described human rights abuse in North Korea as “systemic, widespread and grave”. The death penalty appears to be widely used even for crimes of theft, and reports of torture and other inhumane treatment abound. Human rights groups particularly condemn the presumption of “guilt by association” under which families of offenders are punished.

North Korean Refugees

Many prisoners die, because of the lack of care, malnutrition and mistreatment they face in prison. There is also evidence of the existence of forced labour camps, where conditions are extremely cruel. Other less harsh camps focus on ‘rehabilitation’ but nevertheless remain severe and are often the eventual destination of those who cross the border into China but are rounded up and deported. There are thought to be about 100,000 of these desperate migrants in China, facing inhumane treatment whichever way they turn.

North Korea has ratified major UN conventions, such as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and those referring to genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Those not ratified include conventions relating to slavery, trafficking in humans, refugees and migration. Reporting obligations on the ratified conventions are fulfilled, albeit often with considerable delay. However, the North Korean government refuses access to the UN Special Rapporteur or to independent human rights monitors such as Amnesty International.

North Korea is arguably one of the most secretive regimes in history. Even within society, information is rarely shared and only if absolutely necessary. The government strictly controls information and its sources. There is no freedom of the press. The government has had unprecedented success in controlling knowledge of the reality of life in North Korea. However, as technology outpaces repressive techniques, new open and more informative websites are emerging alongside the government information portals, and more information about North Korea is in the public domain.
The Economy in North Korea

A limited degree of openness can also be found in the economy since market-oriented reforms were launched in 2003; there are now busy markets in Pyongyang and advertisements for consumer goods. Foreign investment and export business is possible. A South Korean conglomerate has built an industrial complex in the North, and it is hoped that this will bring in more foreign currency. Nevertheless, having outperformed the South in the early years, North Korea’s GDP for 2006 has been estimated at less than $25 billion, a tiny percentage of the South Korean economy. Part of this figure may be illegal arms sales and contraband. The economy remains centrally planned, reliant on inefficient heavy industry which is handicapped by energy shortages and antiquated machinery. Power supplies are believed to meet only about 25% of the country’s requirement.
Conflict in North Korea

North Korea nuclear talks © Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep

Economic failure and isolation may have contributed to North Korea’s desperate ploy of withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1993 and declaring its intention to develop nuclear weapons technology. A deal with the Clinton administration to abandon this policy in return for two lightwater power reactors was scrapped in 2002 by President Bush, unhappy with alleged nuclear activities. In light of the ‘axis of evil’ speech earlier in the year, bilateral negotiations were impossible. Although the controlled explosion of a nuclear device in North Korea in October 2006 shocked the world, experts view the test as a failure. US calls for tough sanctions have so far been watered down to a ban on all trade in luxury goods and transfers of money or goods that might be used in nuclear, biological or chemical weapons programmes.

Through not insignificant mediation by China, negotiations became possible originally in 2005 through the involvement of 4 countries in addition to the two main protagonists. The broad shape of a possible agreement envisaged North Korea’s abandonment of its nuclear weaponry programme in return for assistance with energy technology, fuel supplies and removal of the designation as a state supportive of terrorism. The protracted talks have illustrated the difficulty of conducting negotiations with North Korea whose officials have mastered the art of winning concessions through provocative gestures, brinkmanship and delaying tactics.

In shutting down the notorious Yongbyon plutonium reactor and permitting visits by international inspectors, North Korea has fulfilled one of the terms of a major agreement reached in February 2007. But the deadline for permanent disablement of the plant and disclosure of other nuclear activities has been missed, strengthening fears of the existence of a separate uranium enrichment programme. North Korea says that promises of fuel supplies have not materialised in sufficient volume.

Closer ties between the two Koreas

It may be too simplistic to blame the stand-off on North Korean mischief-making. Enforcement of threats and deadlines may be influenced by broader strategic interests in the region. For example, China may prefer to limit US interests in a country with which it shares a border whilst South Korea has a natural emotional leaning to the prospect of reunification. Its “sunshine policy” of softening relations led to North and South Korean leaders coming together in an unprecedented meeting in 2000, resulting in a joint statement reiterating the goal of eventual reunification. Rail and road links for freight have been reopened and a further summit took place in 2007.



The OneWorld North Korea Guide was first published in this format in December 2004 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Katie Fish

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