Many N. Koreans Are Now Aware Of Nation's Poverty

BEIJING — Many North Koreans are now aware of the poverty of their country and are voicing discontent after years of near-starvation, according to the fullest study yet conducted of refugees from the Stalinist dictatorship.

While the popular image of North Koreans is of a nation living in blissful ignorance of the outside world and unquestioning loyalty to the leadership of Kim Jong Il, refugees interviewed while in hiding in China reported that there were increasing signs of dissent.

Eighty percent of those questioned said North Koreans no longer believed official propaganda that living standards were better than in capitalist South Korea. In reality, per capita income is between 20 and 30 times higher in the South. Nine in 10 of the refugees agreed that inside the country "North Koreans are voicing their concerns about chronic food shortages."

Televisions are tuned to one government channel, but news about life in neighboring China, where living standards have fast outstripped their own, was seeping through by word of mouth.