Kim Jong-un urged to implement a new “hard march”, the same plan that exacerbated famine in the 1990 crisis

The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, urged the North Korean One Party to implement a new “hard march” campaign called for by the Pyongyang regime during the famine of the 1990s., given the economic difficulties that the communist country is going through.

Kim made this reference in the speech released today by the KCNA news agency and with which he closed a Workers’ Party cell secretaries conference held in Pyongyang on Thursday.

The North Korean dictator said he decided to ask party members at different levels to “lead a new and more difficult ‘hard march’ to relieve our people of hardship.” and also “seek optimal material and cultural benefits”.

The “hard march” was a propaganda campaign that began in 1993 in which North Koreans were urged to take inspiration from the havoc that the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung (the grandfather of the current leader), would have suffered in his fight against Japanese colonization. , to cope with a famine that could cause up to 3 million deaths.

“There are many obstacles and difficulties in our path, and therefore our efforts to implement the decisions of the Eighth Party Congress will not always be a placid journey,” Kim warned the secretaries of the party cell meeting in Pyongyang, without giving more specific references.

At the Workers’ Party Congress in January, the North Korean leader himself admitted that North Korea is going through its “worst days” and blamed the sanctions imposed as punishment for its weapons programs for the hardships engendered. by the regime.

Added to this is the devastation of the pandemic in the impoverished country, which closed its borders tightly in January 2020, preventing the entry of tourists and foreign investment.

Strict border controls have even almost completely eliminated trade with China since October, according to Beijing customs data.

North Korea gets 90% of its imports from its powerful neighbor, and media with contacts in the airtight country have reported a commodity shortage, from food to medicine, for months.

The situation of extreme isolation has also forced many diplomats and workers from international organizations and NGOs to leave the country, where there are virtually no observers outside the regime.

In its latest report to the World Health Organization (WHO), sent at the end of March, North Korea claims to have tested 22,389 people without having detected a single positive for covid-19.

(With information from EFE)

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