Arduous March

The collapse of the socialist bloc and repeated natural disasters brought severe famine to North Korea; many starved and defections increased.

When the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist states collapsed in the early 1990s, North Korea lost its trade and aid, and from 1995 severe floods and droughts followed. The rationing system broke down, many people died of hunger, and defections rose. North Korea called this period the "Arduous March".

North Korea designated the Rajin–Sonbong special economic zone in 1991, partly admitted market elements with the economic management improvement measures of 1 July 2002, and designated the Sinuiju Special Administrative Region.