Reddit reviews Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform
We found 2 Reddit comments about Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
No, I would not agree. The change from mass starvation to "mere" mass malnutrition -- while Kim Jong Un wastes billions of dollars on things his people can't eat -- is the result of cross-border smuggling, semi-legal private agriculture (the so-called sotoji plots) and the encroachment of small, private markets. Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard have written whole books about this:
http://www.amazon.com/Witness-Transformation-Refugee-Insights-North/dp/0881324388
http://www.amazon.com/Famine-North-Korea-Markets-Reform/dp/0231140010
I see very little (if any) evidence that special economic zones have had anything to do with that change. Please cite a reliable source for your assertion.
We've been trying to buy North Korea into civilization since 1998, and the results pretty much speak for themselves. North Korea is changing, but not from the top down. It's changing from the bottom up. The government is doing everything it can do disrupt that. Engagement itself isn't a faulty idea, but you're advocating for engaging the wrong people. And engaging the ordinary people of North Korea won't be possible if the regime is barring the way to that.
I believe it's time to block the funds that are paying for border guards, cell phone trackers, and other ways of cracking down on the North Korean people. When Kim Jong Un can't afford that crackdown anymore, people will flow across the borders both ways. Food from private plots will fill markets. Food prices will fall. Information will flow in to enlighten the people. People will get cell phones, and they'll use them to organize labor unions, churches, and dissent organizations. That's how dictatorships change -- not because of their dictators, but despite them.
[Edited, grammar]
Also, this book by Stephen Haggard and Marcus Noland.
http://www.amazon.com/Famine-North-Korea-Markets-Reform/dp/0231140010
Extra points if you check out their book of surveys...
http://www.amazon.com/Famine-North-Korea-Markets-Reform/dp/0231140010