A United Nations representative to the DPRK during the nation’s horrific mid-1990s famine believes that the arrival of aid from foreign donors saved many lives, but that distrust prevented sustainable economic development.

Christian Lemaire, the UN’s Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative to the DPRK told NK News that his arrival took place a year after the flooding of 1995 as the “humanitarian tragedy” was unfolding.

“When I arrived in mid-1996, malnutrition was already widespread in the most vulnerable groups and I saw then small children in a state that I had only seen in Ethiopia during