Why is North Korea so poor?

Answer 1

North Korea, along with any other country which defeats or blocks the US from attaining its military goals is always attacked economically. Until China, Russia, Brazil and India can set up an alternative to the "Petro-Dollar" (US buck), many small nations can easily be contained by enforcing grinding poverty or, alternately for those sides who supported the US, brought to a high level of development by means of massive investment by nations and corporations 'friendly' to the US.

Answer 2

North Korea is a military Dictatorship. They invest most of their money into the military.

South Korea's government is structured very much like the USA.

In reality it's because North Korea was "adopted" by the Soviet Union and South Korea was "guided" by the US.

Answer 3

North Korea practices a trade policy of autarky, which is defined as being completely self-sufficient, as a country, in the production of goods and services. North Korea is a perfect example of why attempting autarky in a modern economy is completely nonsensical. No country can provide all of the types of raw materials and foodstuffs necessary to sustain the levels of population and industrial production prevalent in any modern society. As a result of autarky, the country remains in grinding poverty.

Contrary to the position in the Community Answer, which ignores the strength of a number of economies in countries not terribly friendly to the USA, like Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Nigeria, Brazil, and Vietnam, North Korea's economic failures are almost entirely self-imposed. If North Korea embraced a form of international trade that mirrors China and Vietnam, they would be as successful as China or Vietnam.

Answer 4

It is a complicated issue which takes in very many trust issues. As much as the Soviet Union fell apart because of military spending, so also do the nations that used to receive support from that entity. Distrust between different Governments creates a paranoia that results in spending on things which are believed by those nations to be of most concern. The fear of global communism has made countries such as the U.S. increase their spending in defense of this fear and by doing so countries such as North Korea spent more on their defense towards capitalism. Sanctions against these less predominant nations has inhibited their ability to compete in technology in their military spending. To offset this they spend more in production of arms and therefore take from the general society funds needed to provide social well being within their own population. Where the United States spends billions in technology for military technology, the North Korean government spends most on mass of weapons to offset their deficit in technology which is created by the sanctions against them and the lack of support from other communist countries. Keep in mind that the United States even though it spends more in it's own military cannot back up a lot of it's own spending but isn't sanctioned by other nations. This allows the U.S to increase the attack financially on countries such as North Korea therefore forcing North Korea to spend more in mass production. In the U. S it is called war by attrition where you make it futile to resist foreign influence especially in defense spending! Without backing from countries such as the former Soviet Union or China, North Korea is left to spend more on it's defense system than what it spends on it's social economic needs. This however doesn't mean that there is no limitation on U. S defense spending because taking for example what befell the Soviet government, the U.S as well can over spend and begin removing funds from it's own social structure and economically create it's own demise out of the pursuit of trying appose countries that don't align themselves with U.S policies or standards.

Answer 5

Yes, North Korea has problems with mass starvation whilst the South have a steady running economy