Kim Jong-un raises fears of food shortages in North Korea

Kim Jong-un raises fears of food shortages in North Korea

 

Shweta Sharma

Yahoo, U.K.

Fri, 9 April 2021, 10:55 pm

 

Kim Jong-un called upon part workers to prepare for ‘arduous march’ at the 6th Conference of Cell Secretaries of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang

(EPA)More

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has raised the threat of food shortages in his country, comparing the current situation to a deadly 1990s famine.

 

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the party conference, Mr Kim asked people to wage another “arduous march” – a term used to refer to a devastating famine at the end of the last century where some people ate tree bark to survive.

 

“There are many obstacles and difficulties ahead of us, and so our struggle for carrying out the decisions of the Eighth Party Congress would not be all plain sailing,” Mr Kim told ruling party members, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

 

His admission of a deepening crisis - he said North Korea is facing its “worst-ever” crisis - came as human rights groups issued warnings of food shortages due to the coronavirus pandemic and economic instability.

Trade with its biggest economic partner, China, has fallen almost 80 per cent with zero imports of food and medicines during the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Greater international economic sanctions by the US and Japan to pressure Kim’s regime to abandon its nuclear programme has added to the woes.

 

Mr Kim added: “I made up my mind to ask the WPK (Workers’ Party of Korea) organisations at all levels, including its Central Committee and the cell secretaries of the entire party, to wage another more difficult ‘arduous march’ in order to relieve our people of the difficulty, even a little.

 

The North Korean leader on 6 April acknowledged that the country is facing “worst-ever situation” while he slammed the party’s grassroots for shortcomings.

 

He referred to the infamous famine that is also called the “Arduous March” or the “March of Suffering”, when an estimated three million people were killed between 1994 and 1998. It was a period of mass starvation when food shortages hit after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 

According to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, there have been signs of food shortages.

 

Severe floods last year also affected agricultural production and aggravated the situation of food shortages, according to observers.

 

However North Korea monitoring groups have yet not confirmed the reports of mass starvation or a humanitarian disaster.

North Korea has claimed that so far there is no single case of coronavirus in the country as it has kept its border shut but experts doubt the claim.

 

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Jacob Knutson

Yahoo, U.K.

Fri, 9 April 2021, 8:32 pm

 

At a party meeting Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un compared the ills the country currently faces to the severe famines it suffered in the 1990s, according to AP.

 

Why it matters: Groups monitoring North Korea have not seen signs of mass starvation or a growing humanitarian disaster, but the comparison may underscore how Kim views the country's current economic difficulties.

 

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• The same groups have said that China, North Korea's biggest trading partner and aid benefactor, won't allow a famine to occur in the country because it fears refugees crossing over the Chinese-North Korean border.

 

What they're saying: "There are many obstacles and difficulties ahead of us, and so our struggle for carrying out the decisions of the Eighth Party Congress would not be all plain sailing," Kim told party members on Thursday, according to AP, citing the Korean Central News Agency.

 

• "I made up my mind to ask the WPK (Workers' Party of Korea) organizations at all levels, including its Central Committee and the cell secretaries of the entire party, to wage another more difficult 'arduous march' in order to relieve our people of the difficulty, even a little," Kim added.

Of note: "Arduous march" is used in North Korea to describe the famine it suffered in the 1990s and early 2000s, during which an estimated 1.5 million to 3 million people died, according to the New York Times.

North Korea's Kim cites 1990s famine in urging work to alleviate economic crises

Conference of cell secretaries of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang

 

Yahoo, U.K.

Fri, 9 April 2021, 10:15 am

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged ruling party officials to wage another "Arduous March" of work and sacrifice, state media reported on Friday, linking the current economic crises to a period in the 1990s of famine and disaster.

 

"Arduous March" was a term adopted by officials to rally citizens during a famine that killed as many as 3 million North Koreans after the fall of the Soviet Union, which had been a major backer of Pyongyang's communist founders.

 

The period is often talked about as a historic event, but Kim's apparent comparison to current problems comes after he earlier in the week said the country faces the "worst-ever situation."

 

His comments were made in a speech on Thursday at the closing of a conference for low-level Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) officials, where he had urged them to be more proactive and responsible in carrying out the country's new five-year economic plan, adopted at a party congress in January.

 

"I made up my mind to ask the WPK organizations at all levels ... to wage another more difficult 'Arduous March' in order to relieve our people of the difficulty, even a little," Kim said, according to a report by state news agency KCNA.

 

The party must reward the people's loyalty and become a genuine "servant" to them, he was cited as saying.

North Korea has not reported a single confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, but American and South Korean officials have cast doubt on the notion that it has escaped COVID-19.

 

The country ended almost all cross-border travel, restricted trade to a trickle, and imposed other restrictions to prevent an outbreak.

 

Those measures, combined with ongoing international sanctions imposed over North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, have taken a toll on the country's economy and raised concerns of humanitarian crisis.

 

An independent panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions recently reported that international aid groups were struggling to reach vulnerable women and children inside North Korea because of the pandemic lockdowns, leaving potentially hundreds of thousands without access to needed nutrients.

 

An official at North Korea's Ministry of Public Health released a statement on Tuesday denying that any children face malnutrition, and that such reports aim to tarnish the country's image.

 

(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Christopher Cushing)