Some 18th Century wag once defined Prussia as “an army with a country attached to it.” The same could be said — only more so — about North Korea:
The food and fuel situation up north is pretty grim, and it’s making the security forces up there nervous. Lots more North Koreans are openly expressing a “I don’t give a damn” attitude. Just like Eastern Europe in 1989. The current food crises is a result of foreign donors refusing to contribute food for North Korea because the government has not allowed foreigners to observe where the donated food goes. Other witnesses have consistently reported that the donated food goes to the armed forces and is not sent to areas where there has been unrest, or where the government suspects there might be unrest (because a number of locals have fled to China or Russia.) Currently, some twelve percent of North Korea’s population, that was getting food aid, has been cut off. New supplies will not arrive for several months. But after that, the food aid could dry up again if the North Korean government does not become more cooperative. The government is showing signs of easing up on building nuclear weapons and controlling foreign aid. But signs are not the same as a done deal, so the people still starve.
At a bare minimum, 12 percent of the country is hungry today — and if this StrategyPage report is accurate, many more no longer “give a damn.”
Now think back to the late summer of 1989, and the unrest in East Germany. By November, the Wall came down.
How much longer can North Korea survive?
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