The North Korean famine that occurred from 1994 to 1998

How Many Died? 
The North Korean government continues to maintain that 225,000 to 235,000 people died during the famine. Natsios, however, estimated that a figure between 2.5 million and 3.5 million deaths is reasonably accurate. He said that recorded death rates in towns, cities, and regions whose records were accessible show that somewhere between 10 and 19 percent of their populations perished in the famine. Tellingly, only 55 percent of people voted in North Korea's 1998 national elections—in a country in which not voting is a crime. "Either the missing were on the move looking for food," Natsios said, "or their deaths were unrecorded."