“In the past few years, when reports of food scarcity have surfaced from North Korea, market prices have given remarkably little credence to the claims.”
Before COVID, a kilo of rice in the border markets cost about 3.5 RMB. After the border closed it spiked close to 15 RMB and has never returned to the old level. The data comes from Rimjingang sources in two border provinces, the parts of the country with the most smuggling from China. The markets used to shrug off famine reports. They have stopped shrugging.