The BBC says the current situation in North Korea has grown so bad that the country risks a return to the devastating famine conditions of the 1990s, during which as many as two million North Koreans may have perished.

In a Friday report, the BBC said food rations have been cut, economic reforms have sent prices soaring, and as the nuclear crisis grinds on, the country's main donors - the United States, South Korea and Japan - have given nothing so far this year.

Only 18% of North Korea's mostly mountainous terrain is considered arable land, and the nation is dependent on expensive fertilizer and machinery to make that land productive.

The BBC pointed to collectivized farming as one of the main culprits behind the nation’s chronic food shortages.

Since the agriculture industry was collectivized in the 1950s in line with Pyongyang's Stalinist philosophy of self-reliance, North Korean farmers have had low incentives to work hard.