The North Korean famine that occurred from 1994 to 1998

What Caused the Famine? 
Natsios said that an annual FAO crop assessment determined that the North Korean famine was largely caused by the country's Stalinist economic system—not by flooding, as the government still maintains. "North Korean and Cuba are the world's only Stalinist agricultural systems, where there is no incentive to produce food," said Natsios. "The production of food actually went into reverse during the famine." In addition, Russia and China had stopped sending heavily-subsidized food supplies and oil to North Korea after the end of the Cold War.