[niklasni1]

> Thanks to these diets, North Korean soldiers are said to be several inches shorter than their South Korean counterparts

If people join after high-school, how does that work?

[drcode]

They starve even before their military service- The only reason this comes up for the military is because soldiers from both sides appear near each other on the borders, making the height comparison easy.

[marme]

south korea specifically picks only tall soldiers to stand guard at the border. They do it on purpose to intimidate the north koreans. It is consider special duty in south korean army and you must be hand picked. The US does this shit too, to be a flag bearer or part of official honor guard you must be over 6 feet tall

[pavlov]

So why wouldn't North Korea do the same?

[Shivetya]

Starvation alongside a severe lack of essential nutrients. So even if they get enough calories in their daily intake its likely their highly restricted choices make it near impossible to obtain the right nutrients

[spikels]

Their mothers were malnourished