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The History Hour: North Korea's 1990s famine

Discussion & Talk

10/07/2021 GMT

North Korea's 1990s famine

BBC World Service - The History Hour, North Korea's 1990s famine

How hundreds of thousands died of starvation and malnutrition in North Korea

How hundreds of thousands died of starvation and malnutrition in North Korea, plus the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, a mystery blindness epidemic in Cuba and Roma rights.

When the USSR collapsed it could no longer support North Korea, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths due to starvation and malnutrition.  We hear from one survivor and Prof Hazel Smith who explains some of the contributing factors behind the 'long, slow famine'. Also on the programme, the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, why the UK sent all its gold to Canada during World War Two, battling for Roma rights and the mystery behind Cuba's blindness epidemic.  All told by the people at the heart of the stories.

Photo: North Korean boys at a kindergarten in Pyongyang pose for a World Food Programme Emergency Food Assistance photographer in 1997. Their thin arms and legs, knobby knees and distended abdomens show that they are seriously malnourished. (Credit: Susan North/AFP/Getty Images)

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