North Koreans have been suffering varying forms of food insecurity since the early 1990s. This continues to this day. This year the UN Food Program reported that four in ten North Koreans are chronically short of food. A bad harvest will make this situation even worse.

While it is true that North Korea has recovered from the famine, the country still struggles to feed its own people. Experts say that, though people are not starving to death en masse, they are going very hungry.

Some North Korea watchers say that there is actually less food than they did during the famine. The world has grown weary of giving the rogue nation food aid because North Korea refuses to let organizations like the UN Food Program track where the food is going. What has changed is the distribution system. North Korea has changed their distribution system. In the past, distributors would get paid whether they deliver food or not. Today, distributors get paid per delivery.

As the country continues to pursue its nuclear program, the people continue to suffer with no end in sight.