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North Korea's 1990s famine

How hundreds of thousands died of starvation and malnutrition in North Korea, plus the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, a mystery blindness epidemic in Cuba and Roma rights.

When the USSR collapsed it could no longer support North Korea, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths due to starvation and malnutrition. We hear from one survivor and Prof Hazel Smith who explains some of the contributing factors behind the 'long, slow famine'. Also on the programme, the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, why the UK sent all its gold to Canada during World War Two, battling for Roma rights and the mystery behind Cuba's blindness epidemic. All told by the people at the heart of the stories.

Photo: North Korean boys at a kindergarten in Pyongyang pose for a World Food Programme Emergency Food Assistance photographer in 1997. Their thin arms and legs, knobby knees and distended abdomens show that they are seriously malnourished. (Credit: Susan North/AFP/Getty Images)

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50 minutes

Last on

Mon 12 Jul 2021 23:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 10 Jul 2021 13:06GMT
  • Mon 12 Jul 2021 23:06GMT

Podcast