Kim Jong Un has sounded the alarm over North Korea’s food shortage
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North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has warned of food shortages and urged officials to boost agricultural production by closing the country to pandemic-related borders, suspending economic sanctions and fighting numerous typhoons and floods.
Kim told senior executives that “the food situation of the people is now straining,” and blamed the grain’s damage on profits last year for the damage caused by a typhoon, according to comments released by state media on Wednesday. He also warned that it is a “long-standing state of emergency against the epidemic”.
These are comments made when the 37-year-old dictator headed the general committee of the Pyongyang Workers ’Party. tensions in the North Korean economy.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea cut himself from the outside world. It is believed to be imports of food, fertilizer and fuel from China, the country main trading partner, have continued at a much slower pace but most cross-border trade activity has dropped significantly or so it was completely stopped.
. Statistics hidden state they are difficult to obtain and often unreliable. However, Peter Ward, a Seoul expert at the University of Vienna who monitors the North Korean economy, has reported “unprecedented” price increases for commodities such as corn and rice in recent weeks.
“People who will really suffer are people who have no political voice, people from outside Pyongyang, especially in small towns,” Ward said. “They will suffer a lot of pain as a result of serious changes in the price of food.”
Increasing the dark outlook, Pyongyang seems to continue to claim zero cases of coronavirus. very cautious approach acceptance of offers of foreign vaccine or food aid.
Critics point out that instead of welcoming international support, Kim has continued developed nuclear weapons while he was defending himself juche, the ideology of pariah state sovereignty.
Rachel Lee, a former U.S. government analyst in North Korea who is now 38 miles north of the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank, said Kim could also be recognizing food shortages “crack the whip to the agricultural sector to increase production” and justify independence.
“North Korea sees the state of the virus as prolonged in the long run, so economic and ideological campaigns will continue to strengthen,” he said.
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