No. That is not the reason for poverty. Healthy economies recover from disasters very quickly.
The Fall of North Korea
North Korea’s dramatic growth was not to last. By the 1990s, propelled by its own industrial revolution and increased openness to international trade, South Korea’s per capita GDP far surpasses that of North Korea. Thirty years later, South Korea’s per capita GDP is 40 times greater than North Korea’s.
While South Korea experiences dramatic export-led growth, North Korea is reeling from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Losing by far its greatest source of oil, and lacking alternative forms of energy generation, North Korea becomes unable to generate enough electricity. In the early 1990s, the country is driven into widespread famine.
Over the course of several years, floods, a reduction in aid and poor planning triggers a 60% fall in food production. In an attempt to ease food shortages, Kim Il Sung’s government launches a ‘two meals a day’ campaign and mandates work in the fields.
Despite openly receiving Western aid for the first time, it is estimated that North Korea’s death toll from starvation and malnutrition summed to a million, or 5% the country’s population of 22 million.