Korea – Food alerts

The pandemic has alarmed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The food situation in the country is now described as tense.

The reason is twofold. Both the severe weather that last year destroyed large parts of the country’s crops and the closing of borders to prevent infection from coronavirus has led to a difficult situation, he writes. Bloomberg.

In 2020, a pandemic and a summer filled with storms and floods put pressure on the country’s economy.

Kim Jong-un recently stated that the agricultural sector is not able to produce enough grain to meet the need. At the same time, the commander expressed a desire to give full priority to self-sufficiency.

severe food shortage

Small crops and access to food is nothing new for North Korea, which is struggling with almost chronic shortages. About 40 percent of the country’s population is described as malnourished.

Border closures have also led to a sharp slowdown in trade with China, causing further supply problems.

However, at a general meeting of the North Korean Communist Party, the leader said the economy has improved this year, with a 25 percent increase in industrial production, compared to the previous year, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Kim also called for measures to reduce the damage caused by such natural disasters, and stressed that ensuring a good harvest is a “top priority.”

– “Tight jeans” and hockey welding are prohibited

United Nations: They are starving to death

In another admission of the country’s obstruction, Kim asked people in April to prepare themselves for “the worst situation ever”.

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Thomas Ojea Quintana, said in March that the impact of the pandemic had contributed to the starvation of North Koreans.

North Korea suffered famine in the 1990s, killing hundreds of thousands, as the fall of the Soviet Union left the country without vital support.