Source says "Military daily grain ration reduced"
Unification Ministry judges worsening food situation... monitoring trends
[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] Regarding the news that North Korea has reduced the grain ration for soldiers for the first time since the 2000s, the Ministry of Unification assessed that North Korea's food shortage has worsened to a serious level.
According to sources on North Korea on the 15th, North Korea recently reduced the daily grain ration per soldier from the previous 620g to 580g. In response, a Ministry of Unification official said, "Considering recent trends in North Korea, it is judged that the food situation has deteriorated," and added, "We will closely monitor North Korea's related trends and continuously observe them together with relevant ministries."
In September 2012, North Korean farmers in Kaesong are sorting harvested corn in the field. [Image source=Getty Images]
According to data released by the Rural Development Administration in December last year, North Korea's food crop production last year was surveyed at 4.51 million tons, a decrease of 180,000 tons compared to the previous year. Despite this situation, since North Korea spent its budget on launching an unprecedented number of missiles, supply instability is expected to continue this year as well. The general observation is that even if grain is imported from outside at the usual level, there will be a shortage of more than 800,000 tons compared to demand.
In particular, there have been reports of numerous starvation deaths recently in various regions including Hamgyong Province. Hamgyong Province is the most underdeveloped border area in North Korea, and it appears that after the COVID-19 outbreak, the lockdown was strengthened, causing problems in procuring food from the outskirts. There are even reports that people are starving to death in Kaesong, which is considered a 'wealthy area.'
Ministry of Unification: "North Korea Acknowledges Seriousness of Food Shortage... Monitoring Related Trends"
In a work report submitted to the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee plenary meeting on the same day, the Ministry of Unification diagnosed that North Korea is making every effort to solve the 'food problem.' In particular, it stated, "North Korea convened a plenary meeting on agriculture as a single agenda item two months after the year-end plenary meeting," and evaluated, "North Korea's designation of 'this year's farming as an extremely urgent and critical task' means it has acknowledged the seriousness of the food shortage."
North Korea held a Political Bureau meeting on the 5th and decided to convene a Party Central Committee plenary meeting in late this month. Considering that the Party plenary meetings are usually held once or twice a year, the reconvening just two months after the year-end meeting is unusual. The convocation decision document included the content, "Establishing a proper development strategy for agriculture and devising necessary measures for the current farming is an extremely important and urgent critical task."
At the plenary meeting that day, Minister of Unification Kwon Young-se said about North Korea's food shortage, "It seems that the food situation is not good these days, but I do not think starvation deaths are occurring in large numbers." He also explained, "I understand that North Korea requested support from the World Food Programme (WFP), but the WFP's condition of monitoring has caused disagreements, so progress has not been made."
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