Food shortage in North Korea after Covid-19

While some reports suspect that the problem of food shortages is increasing in North Korea, it has been claimed that many people in the country may have starved to death.

Experts reported that it is difficult to predict the situation since the North has closed its borders and there are no data on mass deaths from hunger in the country.

Professor at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Lim Eun-chul commented: “If Kim Jong-un cannot fundamentally solve the food problem, he will not be able to steadily advance his nuclear program because public support will suffer.”

Lim said that the next plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Labor Party will be held to discuss the issue of food shortage and consolidate consensus among them.

THE WORST FOOD PROBLEM

Kwon Tae-jin, a senior economist at South Korea’s private GS&J Institute, shared the information that North Korea, with a population of 25 million, needs about 5.5 million tons of grain to feed its population, saying which, in general, have a deficit of 1 million tons each year.

Stating that they balanced half of 1 million tons by unofficially importing grains from China to close the deficit, Kwon noted that imports from China may not have taken place due to restrictions on cross-border trade due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

“I think North Korea is facing the worst food problem since Kim Jong-un came to power,” Kwon said.

Noting that the current food shortages are unlikely to cause mass deaths, Kwon said food is still available in markets despite high prices.

“NOT FROM THE FACTORY, DISTRIBUTION DIFFICULTY”

Koo Byoungsam, a spokesman for the South Korean Unification Ministry, said an unknown number of North Koreans died of starvation, but not as severe as the famine of the 1990s.

Ministry officials pointed out that since most of the grain harvested last year has not yet been consumed, the current food problem is not due to famine but rather distribution problems.

The ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee is known to hold a general assembly in the coming days in North Korea, and while the meeting’s agenda is unclear, it has been said before that “serious changes are needed in agricultural development “. (AA)