It's not been unremitting famine in North Korea since day one of Kim Jong whatever era in 1945.
North Korea largely left farmers alone for the first 30 or so years, and they produced ample supplies of food for the nation. They had quotas they were required to fulfill, but they weren't included in the mandatory public food distribution system.
In other words, once they fulfilled their quota, they could keep the remained to feed themselves, meaning there was strong incentive for them to work hard.
That started to change in the late 1980s when the old man became crazier, and really took off in the 1990s with the collapse of their primary sponsor, the Soviet Union. Chemical fertilizers, heavy equipment, etc., dwindled, and then the farmers were put on the public food distribution system, which meant two things -- it removed the incentive for them to work hard, and they started hiding parts of their harvests. In a system in which food production is falling already because of lack of fertilizers and pesticides, it's a perfect storm brewing, and it led directly to the famine of 1994 to 1998.
I followed that mess quite closely because I was sure that the North was going to invade the South in 1996 as a way of distracting the public and as a means of getting more stuff.