North Korea's malnourished children

The Journal:
MILLIONS OF NORTH Korean children are not getting the food, medicine or health care they need to develop physically or mentally, leaving an entire generation stunted and malnourished, the United Nations said today.

Nearly a third of North Korean children under age 5 show signs of stunting, particularly in rural areas where food is scarce, and scores are dying from diarrhea due to a lack of access to clean water, sanitation and electricity, the agency said.

Hospitals are spotless but bare; few have running water or power, and drugs and medicine are in short supply, the agency said in a detailed update on the humanitarian situation in North Korea.

People in the capital, Pyongyang, live in relative comfort, but the situation in the rest of the country is more dire. About 16 million North Koreans — two-thirds of the country — rely on twice-a-month government rations, the report said. And there are no signs the government will undertake the long-term structural reforms needed to spur economic growth, it said.
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This is more evidence that a communist command economy does not work.  They can't produce enough to feed people and they lack he resources needed to import sufficient food to make up the difference.  This raises serious questions about their ability to sustain control of the mess they have created.  If they got into a war with the South would they have the troops necessary to sustain operations.

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