Reply #23: Find a way of sending them oil at below market prices.

[JVS]

The geography of North Korea and their population is such that even if things were running well they wouldn't be self-sufficient in food. There simply isn't enough arable land. This situation is made worse by the fact that they don't have the oil to engage in mechanized agriculture. So basically you have farming methods from 80 years ago trying to feed a population much larger than it was then. Also, the lack of oil keeps almost all industry (except the coal industry, which is vitally important in absence of oil), which means they cannot afford to import food. The N Korean policy of isolating itself from the world and the loss of Soviet sponsor state that gave them oil at cost for decades means that the country has a population and economy that was built around the availability of cheap oil.