why was North Korea being sanctioned

Do you want me to explain the entire Korean war to you?

Here, best I can do is a podcast. It's very well sourced though

The dictator didn’t prefer to have his subjects starve

This was the 90s, North Korea had just watched Russia experience a famine after the west had their way with them. The only thing the US would have accepted to lift sanctions would have been opening up North Korea to be eviscerated the same way the USSR was.

he certainly didn’t prioritize feeding them.

Sure, that's why they stabilized the situation by increasing imports and building massive irrigation projects.