[anotherfadjs]

Maybe just maybe because of all the embargoes by the rest of the world?

[SiVal]

There are two giant economies that border NK, China and Russia, that do not economically embargo NK. But as is always the case with socialist workers' paradises, it's always the fault of external villains that they have any remaining problems at all. Surely it can't have anything to do with the internal policy of forcibly transferring decision-making power from the people to the political elite in Capital City.

[jotm]

Not really - their government takes all the aid and money, while also punishing defectors (just people escaping to China or SK) by death or imprisonment of their families. Embargoes do little for most of the population.

[meepmorp]

Maybe it's because of specific decisions on the part of the government to provide resources to the military before anyone else in society.