The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Actor Yoo Ah-in appears for questioning over alleged drug use

  • 3

    ANALYSISTesla, BYD's price cuts unnerve LGES, Samsung, SK

  • 5

    Yoo Ah-in appears before police over alleged use of illegal drugs

  • 7

    US aircraft carrier to visit Busan amid NK provocations

  • 9

    Dreams come true: TXT mesmerizes 21,000 fans at KSPO Dome

  • 11

    Chun Doo-hwan's grandson apprehended at Incheon Int'l Airport over drug use

  • 13

    Clock ticks for China's massive repatriation of N. Korean defectors

  • 15

    Families of foreign construction workers can receive retirement pay: court

  • 17

    N. Korea fires 2 SRBMs toward East Sea; US aircraft carrier due in S. Korea for joint training

  • 19

    Local bank stocks hit by shockwaves from SVB, CS collapses

  • 2

    SK chief's estranged wife sues his new partner for compensation

  • 4

    4 young Nigerian siblings killed in house fire in Ansan

  • 6

    One of two Kazakhstanis who fled Incheon Int'l Airport nabbed

  • 8

    Revised Japanese textbooks distort wartime forced labor, catching Korea off guard

  • 10

    Will April releases revive Korean cinema? Films to look out for in April

  • 12

    Korean crypto investors want Do Kwon punished in US

  • 14

    TEMPLE ADVENTURESHaedong Yonggung Temple prospers on Busan's coast

  • 16

    Gimpo-China flights recover to pre-pandemic levels

  • 18

    Actor Yoo Ah-in once again apologizes for alleged drug use

  • 20

    Nongshim plans to build plant in eastern US region

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
National
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Wed, March 29, 2023 | 19:00
Andrei Lankov
See no good, hear no good ...
Posted : 2015-11-29 16:59
Updated : 2015-11-29 17:05
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Andrei Lankov

The world's media is a strange universe in which the supposedly biggest news stories are forgotten after a few months, and many statements are proven wrong by subsequent events ― but who cares?

Reporting on North Korea gives us many examples of how peculiar a media picture of the world can become. More or less every year (well, every second year) the world's newspapers in spring or early summer predict gloom and doom in North Korea ― usually anticipating that something akin to the disastrous famine of the 1990s might occur again. By autumn, nothing happens, but by that time the earlier gloomy predictions are safely forgotten ― and, of course, the absence of a widely predicted famine, unlike an actual famine, is not newsworthy.

This year was no exception. Do you remember what the world's media wrote about North Korea in June? Merely five months ago, I mean? Well, let me remind you: "North Korea's historic drought expected to cause famine, says UN" (CNN, 25 June); "North Korea's ‘Worst Drought' Threatens Famine" (Forbes, 18 June); "Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea Faces Historic Famine" (International Business Times, 10 June). Additions for this list can be easily found.

The alarmist reports were triggered by the North Korea official press which then reported that the country was suffering from "drought, the worst in a century". Some problems were confirmed by UN agencies, so the panic mills began to turn.

I barely paid attention ― like most people I take seriously. We remembered how in the last year the media spotted similar headlines: "North Korea army mobilized as rivers run dry in worst drought in years" (Thomson Reuters, 23 June of 2014); "Drought In North Korea Brings Back Fears Of Widespread Famine" (ThinkProgress, 24 June of 2014). Once again, those are 2014 headlines.

And what happened in 2014? When harvesting was over, the country had the best harvest in a quarter century or so. Of course, no newspaper rushed to run this story. On the contrary, reports about this remarkable achievement, even when published, were hidden on the back pages of specialized journals. Thus, most readers vaguely remembered the famine-related predictions, but had no clue that the year 2014 was not another year of famine, but in fact a year of bumper harvest.

Admittedly, this was not the first year of witnessing such a state of affairs. For roughly a decade, the reporting on North Korea was dominated by a cycle of alarmist news about imminent famine, followed by barely reported good or, at least, acceptable harvests.

It seems that similar things are happening again. The first reports from North Korea indicate that the supposedly unprecedented drought failed to have any noticeable impact on the situation in the country. The market prices for rice are going down ― and most of the rice and other grains in North Korea are now bought and sold at markets. Right now the price fluctuates at around 5000 NK won per kilo which is lower than the November 2014 price of 8000 NK won. If anything, it indicates that the actual harvest this year is even better than the bumper harvest of 2014.

Well, this might be an excessively optimistic view, since preliminary estimates, available early November, seem to indicate that the 2015 harvest is going to be below the record-breaking level of last year, but only by a small margin. In other words, we are going to get what can be described as a good harvest by North Korean standards. It will not bring an abundance of food, US style, but it will ensure that nobody is likely to starve to death, even though many people are going to be malnourished next spring, when the reserves will hit the lowest point. For our readers this does not sound like prosperity, but for the North Koreans it is markedly better than what they have experienced for the last two decades.

The reasons are clear. The switch to household-based teams, however incomplete and indecisive, began in 2013 and rapidly ensured that farmers would work better. The private markets, tacitly tolerated and even encouraged by Kim Jong Un, ensure a swift redistribution. So, life is tough, but much better than anything within the living memory of any North Korean below the age of 35.

But this does not make news. So, I strongly expect that in June or July 2016 newspapers will again tell us about an imminent famine ― and then will remain largely silent about another reasonably good harvest.

Professor Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. Reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.

 
Top 10 Stories
1Revised Japanese textbooks distort wartime forced labor, catching Korea off guardRevised Japanese textbooks distort wartime forced labor, catching Korea off guard
2Clock ticks for China's massive repatriation of N. Korean defectors Clock ticks for China's massive repatriation of N. Korean defectors
3Gold price nears all-time high amid financial jitters Gold price nears all-time high amid financial jitters
4Ramsar wetland in Han River cleaned up for protected birdlife Ramsar wetland in Han River cleaned up for protected birdlife
5BMW launches new XM BMW launches new XM
6Civic groups in Gwangju await meeting with Chun Doo-hwan's grandson Civic groups in Gwangju await meeting with Chun Doo-hwan's grandson
7CJ CheilJedang sees chicken as next big seller after frozen dumplingCJ CheilJedang sees chicken as next big seller after frozen dumpling
8North Korea unveils tactical nuclear warheads North Korea unveils tactical nuclear warheads
92024 budget to focus on tackling low birthrate 2024 budget to focus on tackling low birthrate
10Over 1,000 financially vulnerable Koreans apply for new emergency gov't loans Over 1,000 financially vulnerable Koreans apply for new emergency gov't loans
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Dreams come true: TXT mesmerizes 21,000 fans at KSPO Dome Dreams come true: TXT mesmerizes 21,000 fans at KSPO Dome
2Will April releases revive Korean cinema? Films to look out for in April Will April releases revive Korean cinema? Films to look out for in April
3'My ID is Gangnam Beauty' to be adapted into live action series in Thailand 'My ID is Gangnam Beauty' to be adapted into live action series in Thailand
4[INTERVIEW] Choi Min-sik, Lee Dong-hwi on creating Korean-style noir with 'Big Bet' INTERVIEWChoi Min-sik, Lee Dong-hwi on creating Korean-style noir with 'Big Bet'
5Ra Mi-ran, Lee Re to lead fantasy drama 'The Mysterious Candy Store' Ra Mi-ran, Lee Re to lead fantasy drama 'The Mysterious Candy Store'
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group