North Korea: North Korea dependent on every grain, is the country facing the brunt of dictator Kim Jong's policies?

Posted on 3rd Mar 2023 by rohit kumar

North Korea is going through a food crisis. A large population here is on the verge of starvation. Even many people have lost their lives due to hunger. On the other hand, the agriculture sector has hurt the development of the country. Experts are constantly pointing to the worsening situation. Meanwhile, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has called a meeting to address food insecurity in the country.

 

 

Amidst the deepening crisis, the country's supreme leader Kim Jong Un held an important meeting with the leaders of the Workers' Party of Korea. During this, he told the leaders that it is important to focus on increasing the yield in all the farms. Kim also stressed the need for providing technical assistance to rural communities for each area and unit.

 

 

Kim talked about implementing several important plans in the meeting. This includes completing irrigation projects to deal with unusual climatic events and supplying high-efficiency agricultural machinery to rural areas. He said that the government would make the tide-affected land cultivable again. Will expand cultivated areas. He stressed the need to timely detect and remove the internal factors hurting the development of agriculture.

 

After all, how deep is this food crisis?

North Korea, with a population of 26 million, has struggled for decades to produce enough food for its people. The situation has worsened in recent months. According to a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, many people died of starvation in Kaesong, a city in the southern part of the country.

 

According to Seoul-based news sources, even members of North Korea's elite military have been affected by food shortages. Army officers did not get rations for their families for a few months last year. Experts say the lack of food for the military under the Kim regime shows that the food problem is real and deep.

 

According to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 10 million North Koreans suffered from malnutrition and hunger during the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, between 2019 and 2021, 41 percent of the country's population remained undernourished. About one-fifth of North Korean children suffer from waste.

 

What is the reason for this crisis?

There is no single reason for the food crisis in the country. A major reason for this is said to be a long suspension of North Korea's border trade with China. Pyongyang bought rice and other products from China. But once it sealed its borders due to the pandemic, the country had to rely on its agricultural production. However, the production in the country did not increase as expected and as a result, the country is facing a major food crisis today.

 

Grain production decreases every year

North Korea requires 5.5 million tonnes of grain for its 25 million people. However, grain production here is decreasing every year. According to estimates, production last year was around 4.5 million tonnes, down 3.8% from a year ago. Earlier in the last decade the annual food grain production stabilized from about 44 lakh tonnes to 48 lakh tonnes. In the north, land for paddy production is expected to decrease by 0.8 percent to 539,679 hectares in 2022. This accounts for about three-fourths of the area used for rice in the southern part of the country.

 

The country is also facing the brunt of the wrong policy

Experts have also blamed the wrong policies of the government on the crisis. According to information, the government banned the sale of private grains in 2022. This made it even more difficult for many people to find food in an already scarce country.

 

What is the government doing?

A report says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered officials to solve the country's food-supply problems. At the same time, the Unification Minister, Kwon Young-she has said that we have requested the United Nations food agency, the World Food Program, for assistance.

Also Read: Children cannot watch Hollywood movies in North Korea: Kim's order – 5 years in jail for watching foreign shows, parents will also be trapped