For more than a hundred years now, the modern capitalist sytems has been a major driving force in countless new advances in technology, healthcare, and science. The free market’s superior ability to innovate was a major competitive advantage against authoritarian regimes like Soviet Russia, and their inefficient command and control economies.

So how is it then, than North Korea, an archaic 20th century command and control economy has created the latest weapon in the war on hunger?

According to an article on the BBC’s website the North Koreans, have developed a new type of noodle that significantly delays the ‘feeling’ of hunger.

According to the BBC article,

“The noodles were made from corn and soybeans…They left people feeling fuller longer and represented a technological breakthrough…the new noodles have twice as much protein and fives times as much fat as ordinary noodles.”

If these reports are true, this marks a significant achievemant in the prolong battle to end starvation in North Korea, and perhaps the rest of the developing world. If the North Koreans can mass produce these noodles and market them to other developing nations it could help millions of people, as well as its own floundering economy. Perhaps one day North Korea will be known less for exporting SARS missiles and weapons of mass destruction, and more for making a dramatic contribution in the humanitarian effort to end hunger.

Since the news comes from a source closely linked to the North Korean regime, it must be taken with a grain of salt (no pun intended). Yet if true, the news demonstrates that certain inefficiencies in the capitalist system can ONLY be remedied by government action. While I am generally a libertarian, I can’t discredit the notion that in certain instances the free market system does not provide adequate incentive for certain problems to be tackled.