Inside Story

Can another famine in North Korea be prevented?

Millions face food shortages due to the worst drought in 37 years.

An estimated two million North Koreans died during the famine in the 1990s.

Aid workers, and even state media, are calling for international help to prevent history from repeating itself.

The official news agency is reporting the worst drought in 37 years and blames economic sanctions for making matters worse.

North Koreans are being urged to fight what’s called “a war against nature” to find new water sources and protect crops.

The United Nations has just reported the lowest harvest in a decade and warned that 10 million people are going hungry.

Can their suffering force North Korea to abandon its ballistic missile programme and restart denuclearisation talks with the United States?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Han Park – founding director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues

Gitte Rabol – advocacy manager for the Country Cluster Support Team at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Aidan Foster-Carter – honorary senior research fellow in Sociology and Modern Korea at Leeds University