Between the Markets and the State: North Korea’s fragile agriculture and food supply

Since the Arduous March famine years of the 1990s, North Korea’s food situation and agriculture have improved significantly. The rise of the market system has been crucial to the provision of a more efficient system of food production and distribution than the government’s Public Distribution System, which is now largely defunct. Moreover, agricultural units have been granted greater autonomy in making basic production decisions. However, while the agricultural reforms introduced under Kim Jong Un may have contributed to making the system more efficient, the food situation remains precarious, and in the absence of more overarching, fundamental reforms to the system, fundamental inefficiencies largely remain.