Seoul: North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un has called for strong public solidarity behind his leadership to significantly increase the country’s grain production, state media reported on Tuesday, amid outside concerns about the country’s worsening food insecurity. Foreign experts say North Korea is facing severe food shortages following COVID-19 border restrictions and an alleged push for greater state control over grain supplies. Experts say they see no signs of mass deaths or famine due to the shortage.
During a ruling Workers’ Party meeting on Monday, Kim expressed his government’s determination to revolutionize agricultural production, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Kim was quoted as saying, “As long as a strong leadership system is established throughout the party and the united strength of all people, nothing is impossible.”
KCNA did not elaborate on whether Kim took any specific steps to boost grain production. Many observers say meaningful steps to produce more grain will require greater purchases of fertilizers, pesticides and farm machinery, as North Korea devotes its scarce resources to advancing its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea’s chronic food shortages have worsened due to COVID-19 sanctions that have shut down its external trade, US-led sanctions and its own mismanagement.
According to South Korean estimates, North Korea’s grain production last year was estimated at 4.5 million tons. In the last decade, its annual production was estimated at 4.4 million to 4.8 million tonnes. South Korea’s spy agency has said that North Korea needs 5.5 million tons of grain every year to feed its 25 million people.
In previous years, informal grain purchases from China filled about half the gap, but restrictions caused by the pandemic on border traffic are likely to cut those transactions. According to Kwan Tae-jin, a senior economist at the private GS&J Institute in South Korea, the situation worsened due to a drop in people’s incomes and the authorities’ unsuccessful attempts to supply grain through government facilities.
Most analysts say North Korea’s current food shortage is nowhere near the peak in the 1990s when a famine killed hundreds. They say the party’s Central Committee meeting was called to boost Kim’s image as a leader who cares for his people at a time when he is in conflict with the United States over its nuclear programme. is closed. The plenary session, which opened on Sunday, was expected to last at least one more day.
KCNA quoted Kim as saying at Monday’s session that the main objectives of the conference were to find immediate ways to reach this year’s grain production target and a scientifically feasible long-term objective to radically increase agricultural production within a few years. Are. Other senior officials analyzed unspecified deficiencies in past rural development projects and proposed how to fix them, according to KCNA.
Boosting grain production is one of 12 economic objectives adopted by North Korea’s ruling party at its last party meeting in December. Government media recently said that grain production must be increased at all costs.