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I am amazed how a narrative could be formed by select samples. The Korean peninsula has very little arable land, and much of Joseon Dynasty's history was marked by famine and mass starvation.

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Well, both can be true. Before the industrial revolution, everyone depended on good weather, and people would starve if you had a bad year. But what are you going to do with all that rice on a good year? Somebody's got to eat it.

Besides, pre-modern farming is back-breaking labor. One reason why traditional farmers ate so much (if the food was available) is that they needed the calorie.

Both China and Japan were agrarian and primarily rice-eating too, so if the presented narrative was true, what made Korea special?

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