When David Austin, North Korea programme director at Mercy Corps, a US aid agency, visited a hospital in North Pyongan in February to monitor newborn babies, it was so cold in the building that the ink froze in his pen. In one of the icy maternity wards, six new mothers were huddled together under blankets spread across four beds. Even though none of their babies was premature, each child weighed less than two kilos.
His visit to the hospital illustrates two of the most pressing concerns for the isolated country’s economy: power supplies are moribund and malnutrition is rampant. With an annual cereal shortfall of about 1m tonnes, the UN estimates that about a quarter of the population is starving.
Observers are closely watching Kim Jong-eun, North Korea’s new leader, to determine how he will confront these problems.