FAO warns North Korea faces severe food shortages

North Korea faces food shortage of around 860,000 tonnes this year, warned the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which warned of a “difficult waiting period” in the coming months.

The impoverished country, which faces multiple international sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic programs, has struggled for years to feed its population, suffering from chronic deficiencies.

Last year, the coronavirus pandemic and a series of storms and floods put pressure on its economic weakness, and Pyongyang admitted in June that it faces a “current food shortage.”

North Korea plans to produce “a near-average level” of 5.6 million tonnes of grain this year, according to the FAO report dated Monday.

The amount is equivalent to 1.1 million tonnes less than what is needed to feed its entire population, the report adds.

With expected imports of 205,000 tonnes, the country would face a shortage of around 860,000 tonnes.

“If this gap is not sufficiently bridged by commercial imports or food aid, households could suffer a hard period of deprivation from August to October,” FAO added.

Pyongyang closed its borders in January last year to stave off the pandemic, and as a result, its trade with Beijing, its mainstay, fell to a minimum as international rescue workers fled the country.

In addition, a series of recent typhoons caused flooding that destroyed thousands of homes and inundated growing areas.

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, made some references to the difficulties of recent months, stressing that the food situation was “tense” and asking the population to prepare for “the worst situation ever.”

North Korea suffered a national famine in the 1990s, which killed hundreds of thousands after the fall of the Soviet Union left the country without crucial support.

During a meeting with the leaders of the single party, Kim noted that “the agricultural sector has not adhered to its production plan due to the damage caused by last year’s typhoon” and called “to take measures to resolve the problem”, as reported by the official North Korean news agency (KCNA).

In this sense, he insisted on the fact that “having a good harvest (…) is an absolute priority” as well as referring to “the question of fully responding to the prolonged nature of the emergency” of the pandemic of coronavirus.

(With information from AFP)

KEEP READING: