Why North Korea needs to do agriculture better

By Olamide Tejuoso

Amid reports of worsening food shortage situation in North Korea, the state’s leader Kim Jong Un, has mandated that grain production targets in 2023 becomes a top priority. Kim, according to the state media, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), has urged government officials to engineer a “fundamental transformation” in agricultural production. Doting on the importance of stable agriculture production during the second day of the seventh enlarged plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, he noted that the state would have to experience a drastic change in the way it is doing agriculture, in the next few years.

Although, the country has been self-sufficient, producing all its grains locally; it might fall vulnerable to food crisis and imports soon, despite its military prowess, reports say. Earlier in 2023, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said the food situation in the North “seemed to have deteriorated”, linking it to the announcement of special meeting on agriculture strategy. Meanwhile, Kim had in 2021, admitted that his country was facing food shortages, which he associated with 2020’s typhoon and floods. North Korea remains under strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, and its economy has been further strained by strict self-imposed border lockdowns aimed at stopping the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks.

Source: Reuters News