著者
鄭 光敏
出版者
一般財団法人 アジア政経学会
雑誌
アジア研究 (ISSN:00449237)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.51, no.1, pp.59-75, 2005-01-31 (Released:2014-09-30)
参考文献数
41

Although deaths in the North Korean famine of 1995–1997 are estimated to be roughly 600,000–1 million in the most recent surveys, only a few attempts have been made to analyze the famine. This paper aims to analyze the causes of the North Korean famine using Amartya Sen’s entitlement approach, which has been widely used in the study of modern famines.The unique aspect of the North Korean famine is that it happened during a drastic change in the entitlement system. As is well known, the main entitlement system in North Korea until the early 1990s was the public distribution system (PDS). However, following the collapse of the PDS, food was increasingly allocated through the informal sector, called the Changmadang in North Korea. After the collapse of the PDS, the food entitlement of the urban population relied mainly on market exchange, though there were other sources of food acquisition. Indeed, a new entitlement system emerged from the informal food market in the middle of the 1990s.However, North Korea had been undergoing a serious economic recession since the collapse of the socialist market in the early 1990s, and therefore many factories and firms could not operate normally. Many workers were threatened with unemployment or non-payment. Furthermore, people were severely restricted by the state not only in respect of private ownership but also with regards to free trade activity. Hence it was not easy for many laborers, especially in local urban areas, to acquire food through market exchange during the transitional stage.The main victims of the famine in North Korea were laborers in local urban areas, especially in North and South Hamgyung. Surprisingly, when the famine reached its peak at the end of 1996 the price index of rice rose to 1206 (taking the informal market price in 1992 as 100). While there was a sudden surge in food prices, the wage rate actually fell in absolute terms and the index of the exchange rate of labour vis-à-vis rice declined from 100 in 1992 to 5 in 1996. Indeed, the violent decline in rice-entitlement of wages that occurred in North Korea at this time was unprecedented in the modern history of famines.To understand the causes of the North Korean famine it is very important to appreciate that it occurred as a result of a number failures of entitlement. The first is the failure of the PDS by regional ‘triage’, etc. (i.e. the cause was not simply a decline in food availability), and the second is the collapse of the exchange entitlement in the informal market during the dramatic transition of the North Korean economy.
著者
鄭 光敏
出版者
Japan Association for Comparative Economic Studies
雑誌
比較経済体制学会年報 (ISSN:13484060)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.42, no.1, pp.25-34,59, 2005-01-31 (Released:2009-07-31)
参考文献数
24

本稿は都市部飢饉としての北朝鮮飢饉の性格の解明の一環として,北朝鮮の政治経済システムの中核に位置する,首領経済が,人々の食糧の獲得能九すなわち,「食糧エンタイトルメント」にいかなる影響を及ぼしたかを論じた。北朝鮮における食糧配給システムは,首領とその一家を頂点とした差別的ヒエラルキー構造になっている。このようなエンタイトルメントのヒエラルキーを規定する物質的基礎は「首領経済」の形成にあった。