Agriculture in Korea: The Prospect of Reunification
The Korean Peninsula, in the Asia Pacific region, has a total territory of over 220.000 square kilometers, which is about the same size as Utah. Geographically, the Korean Peninsula has more than 4.900 kilometers of coastline and is dominated by mountains, valleys, and coastal plains. Divided since 1953, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a mid-sized rogue nation occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Bordering Russia, China, and South Korea, North Korea has a total territory of almost 130.000 square kilometers, which is somewhat smaller than Mississippi. Similarly, North Korea has a total population of more than 25 million citizens, of which some 60% live in an urban setting, mainly in the capital city of Pyongyang. In spite of harsh international sanctions, the North Korean economy has experienced positive economic growth of approximately 1.0% annually in recent years and its annual gross domestic product (GDP) is of approximately US$40 billion. The North Korean national economy is divided into 25% agriculture, 41% manufacturing, and 34% services. Yet, the agriculture industry utilizes about 22% of the national territory, while another 46% is forested. Likewise, it is estimated that the agricultural industry in North Korea employs some 37% of the national labor force, while manufacturing and services employ the other 63%.
In terms of natural resources, North Korea has coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, iron ore, copper, gold, salt, fluorspar, and hydropower. Within manufacturing, North Korea is less developed than its southern counterpart. Nevertheless, the national industry is focused on military production, machinery, electric power, chemicals, mining, metallurgy, textiles, and food processing. Meanwhile, the North Korean agricultural industry has as main products rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses, beef, pork, and eggs. In terms of trade, North Korea’s main, and almost exclusive, partner is China, alongside smaller nations such as the Republic of the Congo. This article explores the status of nutrition and agriculture in North Korea in light of the prospect of reunification and reintegration of the Korean Peninsula.
Agriculture in Korea: The Prospect of Reunification
In North Korea, unfortunately, more than 10 million people suffer from undernourishment. Likewise, in recent years, the average per capita protein intake of animal origin in the country has been of 10 grams daily. Meanwhile, cereals, roots, and tubers represent about 69% of the food energy intake in North Korea. Simultaneously, the land distribution within the country has evolved throughout the last half century. In 1961, permanent pastures and meadows in North Korea covered 50.000 hectares, while arable land totaled almost 2.2 million hectares, and permanent crops accounted for some 180.000 hectares. By 2014, permanent pastures and meadows in the country still accounted for 50.000 hectares, while arable land represented more than 2.3 million hectares, and permanent crops accounted for 230.000 million hectares.
Finally, the domestic cereals market in North Korea has transformed substantially throughout the last several decades. In 1961, the country devoted more than 1.4 million hectares of land to the production of cereals and produced almost 3.6 million metric tons annually. Meanwhile, in 2014, North Korea devoted approximately 1.3 million hectares of land to cereals production and yielded over 5.2 million metric tons.