Changes in Food Situation in North and South Korea in the 75 Years of Division

This chapter reviews establishment of the North Korean regime, created by division of South and North at the time of liberation in 1945, along with the political transformation and social situation of closed dictatorship that led to a three-generation hereditary succession. North Korea is a closed society with extremely limited, unreliable data on the people’s food situation. However, the economic failure following collapse of the communist bloc in the 1990s led significant numbers of people starving to death. North Korea cannot find a way out because of the international community’s economic sanctions due to its excessive defense budget and nuclear weapons development. Therefore, its people suffer from hunger. This chapter investigates the poor North Korean food situation in comparison with the South Korean food and nutrition situation. Korea’s unification can be justified to simultaneously solve problems of nutritional excess in South Korea and nutritional deficiency in North Korea. A Korean food and nutrition optimization model is suggested.