Thursday, July 1, 2021

Reports of people ‘starving’ as N Korea struggles to feed itself | Al Jazeera

United Nations Security Council sanctions, the COVID-19 closure of its border with China, and a 2020 drought followed by typhoon rains are combining to create severe food shortages in North Korea, with concerns growing about widespread malnutrition and a potential repeat of the country’s 1990s famine.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un acknowledged the problem at a June meeting of the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee.

“The people’s food situation is now getting tense,” Kim said according to North Korea’s state media, adding that the agricultural sector had failed to meet its grain production plan because of the damage by last year’s typhoons.

Kim also mentioned the effect of COVID-19.

“It is essential for the whole party and state to concentrate on farming,” the North Korean leader said.

Hazel Smith, an expert in North Korea from SOAS University of London, who spent the best part of 1998 to 2001 inside the country developing agricultural data analysis for UNICEF and the World Food Programme, painted a stark picture of what she knows is happening.

“Children under seven, pregnant and nursing women, the frail, the elderly … these are the people that are starving, right now,” said Smith, whose previous research took her all over the country.

North Korea required 5.2 million tonnes of food for 2020, yet produced only four million tonnes, leaving a shortfall of more than one million tonnes shortfall, the Korea Development Institute in Seoul said in a report last month.

Even with imports, North Korea will suffer a food gap of 780,000 tonnes for 2020-2021, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization estimated in a country report in June, outlining the effect of a drought in early 2020, followed by a succession of typhoons and heavy rains in August and September that severely hampered food production.

“If this gap is not adequately covered through commercial imports and/or food aid, households could experience a harsh lean period between August and October 2021,” the FAO said.

The United Nations children’s agency warned of the looming dangers in its most recent update on the country.

In North Korea “10 million people are considered food insecure … 140,000 children under 5 suffer acute malnutrition … and higher rates of malnutrition and mortality are anticipated for 2021,” UNICEF said in its Humanitarian Situation Report published in February.

While nearly all foreign diplomats and relief agencies have now left North Korea, uncorroborated reports suggest the situation is worsening.

“There are so many more beggars, some people died from hunger in the border area,” Human Rights Watch senior researcher Lina Yoon said of an witness account from a missionary working inside North Korea.

1 comment :

  1. Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), criticized some officials on Tuesday for neglecting their duties which had caused a "crucial case" in concerns of nationwide anti-epidemic efforts, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Wednesday.

    At an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim, general secretary of the party, said some senior officials in charge of important state affairs "neglected the implementation of the important decisions of the party on taking organizational, institutional, material, scientific and technological measures ... associated with the worldwide health crisis, and thus caused a crucial case of creating a great crisis in ensuring the security of the state and safety of the people and entailed grave consequences."

    "He analyzed in the strong terms that a major factor braking and hindering the implementation of the important tasks discussed and decided at the party congress and plenary meetings of the party is the lack of ability and irresponsibility of cadres," the KCNA added.

    Kim also called for "a more fierce partywide campaign" against "ideological faults and all sorts of negative elements" being exposed among them.

    At Tuesday's meeting, "an organizational issue" was also discussed, including the election of new politburo members and a secretary of the party's Central Committee, the report said.

    ReplyDelete

Only News

Featured Post

“The U.S. must stop supporting terrorists who are destroying Syria and her people" : US Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard

US Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, recently visited Syria, and even met with President Bashar Al-Assad. She also visited the recently libe...

Blog Widget by LinkWithin