Korea and Taiwan: Tigers Rising - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 365

Subsequently , the Russians and Chinese aided the North
and the Americans supported the South in recovery efforts.
Korea was now two countries, each pursuing its own path
of development.

organizations estimate that 1.5 million North Koreans
have perished due to famine-related causes. Although
climatic conditions have improved in recent years, the
nation is still significantly short of food and lacks the
minimal calories required each day to stave off malnutri-
tion. The government has broadcast recipes for boiling
grasses.
Data on urbanization in North Korea are notably un-
reliable. However, according to DPRK information, ur-
banization has increased from less than 20 percent in
1953 to about 60 percent in 2009. The definition of ur-
ban is unclear. Most urbanites live in 23 cities of more
than 89,000. Pyongyang has over two million. Hamhung,
the second largest city , is about a third the size of
Pyongyang. The port of Chongjin is another large, indus-
trial city .

North Korea: A Closed Society

SOCIETY AND ECONOMY
The Democratic People' is Republic of Korea (DPRK) is
one of the world' s most closed and rigid societies, if not
the most. Under the absolute power of “Great Leader”
Kim Il Song, the North was brought from the brink of
disaster and turned into an industrial economy based on
central planning and state ownership of the means of
production. Individual needs are subjected to the will of
the state, and ownership is limited to individual and
household possessions.
The Great Leader espoused the juche philosophy ,
meaning self-reliance or self-sufficiency . Juche is based
on the proposition that humans are masters of all
things and that they , among all creatures, are endowed
with the capability of self-reliance and independence.
However, the masses cannot succeed in their struggle
for these goals without a supreme leader to give form
to their causes and direction to their actions. Kim II
Song was followed by his son, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong II
in 1994.
North Korea has a highly socialized command econ-
omy , in which farm land is collectivized and agriculture
accounts for 37 percent of the workforce. State-owned
industry produces 95 percent of manufactured goods,
mainly heavy industrial products and armaments. There
is a shortage of arable land, and the country has not
achieved self-sufficiency in food production.
North Korea needs at least 6 million tons of feed
grain a year to get by . T Torrential rains in a badly defor-
ested environment drastically reduced harvests from
1995 to 1998. Aid workers and others who managed to
sneak across the Chinese border to the Korean commu-
nity there reported widespread starvation. Hillsides were
stripped of vegetation; people ate bark. There were no
cats, dogs, or chickens. It is said that the military and the
Communist Party elite remained well fed, due to food aid
from China, Russia, Japan, and the United States.
In 1995, peasants were allowed to cultivate private
plots, but this resulted in reduction of yields at the col-
lective level. The DPRK estimates that famine claimed at
least 220,000 lives between 1995 and 1998. International

Pyongyang

Pyongyang, North Korea' is largest city , is also its na-
tional capital. Situated along the Taedong River near
the west coast, it controls all commerce moving
north and south along North Korea' s western side of
the peninsula. Leveled to the ground in the Korean
War, Pyongyang was rebuilt with wide boulevards
and massive, grim government buildings typical of
those built in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and
1950s (Figure 12-5). Drab apartment blocks have
few amenities. It is the only city in North Korea to
have an underground subway system. Although
there are only two lines, the subway is considered a
national accomplishment and ranks with political
and cultural monuments as a point of pride.
In 2002, North Korea allowed wages and prices
to rise, and created incentives whereby factories
could turn a profit. Consequently , consumerism has
increased, at least in Pyongyang. Billboards adver-
tise a North Korean-made car—the Huiparam or
“The Whistle.” The Whistle is assembled in the port
city of Nampo and is made with Fiat parts imported
via Italy and South Korea. The enterprise is a joint
venture with a South Korean automobile company .
However, most North Koreans cannot afford to pur-
chase a car.
Along major streets, sidewalk kiosks are open
for business. Locally grown apples and peaches are
sold alongside imported pineapples. Clothing,