North Korea has cut food rations to its soldiers for the first time in more than two decades as the Hermit Kingdom descends into a potential food crisis, officials said this week.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which oversees relations with its northern neighbors, said North Korea’s food situation “appears to have deteriorated.”
FILE: A North Korean boy holds a shovel in a cornfield in an area damaged by floods and typhoons at the Soksa-Ri collective farm in South Hwanghae province. (REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/File photo)
The ministry took note of a February 6 report by North Korea’s state news agency KCNA about plans for an “urgent” meeting of the ruling party on agriculture. Such special gatherings are rare, according to the South ministry.
Meanwhile, the DongA Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, reported on Wednesday that the North has cut daily food rations to its soldiers for the first time since 2000.
While the report could not be 100% confirmed, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said other agencies were monitoring the situation.
FILE – In this Nov. 15, 2020 file photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party Politburo in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim ordered the execution of at least two people, banned sea fishing and sealed off the capital Pyongyang as part of frantic efforts to guard against the coronavirus and its economic damage, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Friday, November 27, 2020. (Korean Central News) Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File) (Korea Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
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The report comes after the US-based monitoring group 38 North last said North Korea’s food availability “has probably fallen below the bare minimum with respect to human needs.” “.
North Korea is no stranger to severe food shortages, often caused by natural disasters like crop-damaging floods. The country suffered one of its worst famines between 1994 and 1998 when hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives.
In this June 29 photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP/Korea Central News Agency/Korea News Service)
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The North is under crushing international sanctions for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program. In recent years, what little trade it had was virtually cut off by self-imposed lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Reuters contributed to this report.
