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'Our country is self-sufficient... but it's boiled rice and cabbage for breakfast, lunch and supper' October 8 2006 The Sunday Telegraph by STANISLAV VARIVODA in Pyongyang AND GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN IT IS difficult to meet a fat North Korean in the streets of Pyongyang, let alone in the smaller outlying cities and towns. Those in possession of a fuller figure normally also carry a red Working Party of Korea Central Committee membership card; they enjoy travelling in chauffeur-driven Mercedes, are saluted by traffic police and live in a guarded compound in the centre of the capital city. But for most North Koreans, struggling to get by on salaries equivalent to about pounds 10 a month, life is essentially one long diet of boiled rice, enlivened by a splash of fiery red kimchi, a dish based - perhaps unsurprisingly in a nation where everyone receives 220lb of the vegetable free each year - on fermented cabbage. Two years ago, North Korea, which has invested more in its nuclear weapons programme than on improving its farming, announced that it had recovered from the famine that claimed up to three million lives in the 1990s, and no longer needed outside food assistance. But now the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is once again warning of serious shortfalls in the country's food supply this year. The outlook for the main rice and maize crops, to be harvested this month and next, is uncertain and the UN has warned of a 900,000-ton shortfall in cereals, a situation made worse by severe flooding in July. But the problem for most North Koreans is not that the country is short of food. Indeed, since the authorities allowed peasants, fishermen and other traders to sell their goods at markets in 2002, more goods and foodstuffs have begun to appear. The problem is that most of it is beyond North Koreans' meagre financial means. In the crowded, hangar-like Tongil street market, the largest and most upmarket in Pyongyang, the traders try to tempt customers by repeating the mantra: "We have the best price and best quality''. A skinned dog, chopped into two, is on offer on one of the tables near to the door. Many elderly women with tarpaulin sacks behind their backs wander along the trading rows, bargaining with sales staff. Mothers carry babies, tied by a headscarf behind their backs. It is noisy and smells of fish, cabbage and unwashed bodies, a side-effect of the lack of tap water in many homes which means many must visit a sauna if they want to wash. In the crowd, where pickpockets are a constant threat, dark colours prevail - grey flannel suits, as sported by Kim Jong-il, the country's diminutive dictator, worn by the workers; black and white by students, and khaki by military officers. A vast range of goods is sold at the market, from fish, fruit and vegetables to clothes, alcohol, consumer electronics and spare parts, making it popular with foreigners and Koreans alike. But for the average teacher or doctor, getting by on between pounds 10 and pounds 20 a month, most of it is out of reach. Two pounds of rice costs about pounds 2.65, while the price of the same weight of pork ranges from pounds 3.75 to pounds 7.80 depending on freshness and fat quantity. Snakehead fish is pounds 12.50 for two pounds and dog meat is a prohibitive pounds 21.87. Two pounds of bananas is pounds 6.25 and watermelons pounds 9.37. Locally produced alcohol is relatively cheap, with soju - a rice wine resembling Japanese sake - retailing for 62p per 330cl bottle. Cigarettes, too, are within the grasp of the average worker, with home produced brands ranging from 20p to 60p for a pack. But Chinese-made Dunhills cost nearly pounds 10 and Kents are pounds 8.70. That may be too steep for a teacher, but it is not a problem for the 50,000 members of the political elite, who can rely on a monthly wage of anywhere between pounds 400 and pounds 1,000. Not only can they afford to take their pick of what is on offer in the market, but they can also choose to dine out at some of the "people's restaurants'' that have sprung up in the North Korean capital. For pounds 15, a typical meal might consist of chicken noodle soup, followed by assorted grilled or fried duck, squid, pork or beef accompanied by a couple of salads, spicy noodles and bottle of beer. Such disparities have raised concerns that many in the country are missing out on essential nutrients. Gerald Bourke, the WFP representative covering North Korea, said malnutrition remained a significant problem. "Many North Koreans struggle to feed themselves on a diet that is critically deficient in protein, fats and micronutrients,'' he said. Despite improvements in diet since the late 1990s, 37 per cent of children are chronically malnourished, and one-third of mothers malnourished and anaemic, according to a 2004 survey by the WFP, Unicef and the North Korean government. "There is a continuing need to ensure that the most vulnerable are taken care of,'' Mr Bourke said. Most North Koreans can afford to eat meat only once or twice a month, and the government has been forced to resume the distribution of free, or subsidised, basic foodstuffs. Nigel Denby, a dietician who writes for The Sunday Telegraph, said that the average North Korean's intake of boiled rice and kimchi for breakfast, lunch and dinner was hardly a recipe for a healthy lifestyle. "The staple diet is woefully lacking in balanced nutrients, in particular iron and calcium,'' he said. "It almost reads like one of the crazy fad diets that come out of California - endorsed by skeletal Hollywood starlets, with dieticians up in arms at the health risks its advocates face.'' The average diet Breakfast Boiled rice mixed with water, kimchi (fermented cabbage), barley tea and crackers. Lunch Boiled rice or maize porridge, kimchi, cold noodles, beer or soju. Evening meal Boiled rice, kimchi, boiled/fried potato or potato cutlets, a couple of salads (cucumber, mixed vegetables), an egg and cold noodles. Once or twice a week There could be meat (mainly pork) - maybe 100g (three oz) per person, added in soup or mixed with vegetables. Rare treat A larger portion of meat or fish. Sour cream, sweet condensed milk, butter, canned meat, chocolate and imported alcohol are the best possible gifts for any low-paid Korean
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