North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered improvements to agriculture amid reports from outside the country of a worsening food crisis.
South Korea has said its neighbor appears to be dealing with a “serious” food situation, while Washington, D.C.-based think tank 38 North, which is part of the Stimson Center, has said the country is on the brink of famine .
What is happening in North Korea?
North Korea has long struggled with food insecurity with a devastating famine in the 1990s estimated to have killed between 240,000 and 3.5 million people.
Analysts have blamed extreme weather events and border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic on the worsening food situation, already fragile from decades of economic stagnation due to centralized planning, the misuse of arms development resources and international sanctions.
“The availability of food has likely fallen below the bare minimum relative to human needs,” a January 38 North report said.
North Korea’s economy contracted by an estimated 0.1 percent in 2021, its second consecutive year of contraction, according to South Korea’s central bank.
What is the status of the agricultural system?
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has urged officials to meet agricultural production targets, declaring “nothing is impossible” under the leadership of the ruling Workers’ Party.
According to state media, he has also called for infrastructure improvements to increase food production.
North Korea relies on a collective farming system that has existed since the 1950s.
“(Her) farming system depends on farmers producing as much food as possible,” Stimson Center Fellow and journalist Martyn Williams told Al Jazeera.
Most of the food goes to a central distribution system “and historically provided North Koreans with adequate basic nutrition,” he added.
“But over the last 10 years or more it started to fall apart. And it is now at the level where most North Koreans cannot survive on what they might get from the state.”
According to Williams, most of the food collected is delivered to “the capitals where the elite live … as well as army units and the military units.”
South Korea’s Unification Ministry has reported deaths from famine, while Seoul’s rural development agency reported that the country’s crop production is down nearly 4 percent in 2022, citing heavy summer rains and economic conditions.
North Korea’s natural environment also poses a challenge to agriculture.
Only according to research conducted by the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC about 20 percent of the country’s landmass, or about 2.2 million hectares (5.4 million acres), is suitable for agriculture.
The country also lacks adequate infrastructure, machinery and supplies, including fertilizer and fuel, and is also vulnerable to natural disasters.
“North Korea’s agriculture is still stuck in technology from decades ago,” Williams said. “A lot of rice planting and harvesting is done by hand.”
These conditions lead to inefficiencies in agriculture, Willians explains, “so that crops can be built below where they could be… and North Korea has trouble feeding its population every year, but this year it looks like it might be particularly bad.”
Despite the reported difficulties, North Korea has rejected suggestions to accept outside aid, with the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper last week calling for greater economic self-reliance and comparing foreign aid to “poisoned candy”.
What is the meal for a typical burger?
According to Williams, what a North Korean gets to eat largely depends on where they live.
“There is a big gap between the countryside and between the cities and then Pyongyang food. If you have money, food is relatively available in Pyongyang,” he explained.
“People eat there maybe two or maybe even three meals a day. The traditional dishes are very similar to South Korea. But in North Korea, of course, it’s much more difficult to get meat and fresh fruits and things like that, (their diet is) mainly based on rice and vegetables.”
The situation is starting to change in rural areas, where people’s options will depend on what they’ve been able to grow themselves or buy at markets, Williams said.
“Officially, private food sales do not exist, but North Korea has had to tolerate them in recent years because the public food distribution system has broken down.”
“It depends on how much money you have. It could be as bad as a bowl of rice pudding a day and then go up depending on the money,” he said.
“It is a very unequal society, and it is very difficult for us to get an accurate picture of how many people today survive, say, from one dish and how many people eat three meals just because we are not in the country as good,” Williams added.
Is North Korea too focused on its military goals?
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank, North Korea has the fourth largest military in the world, with more than 1.2 million personnel.
The US estimates that the country spends nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product (GDP) on its military.
In 2017, US intelligence officials estimated that Pyongyang had enough fissile material for up to 60 nuclear weapons and, despite international sanctions, has continued its weapons program.
In February, the country showed off its arsenal in a nighttime military parade, which showcased more intercontinental ballistic missiles than ever revealed at once.
“North Korea cannot afford to properly feed all of its children under the age of five, but it has a program to develop nuclear weapons. It launches missiles all the time. It’s putting a satellite into orbit this year,” Williams said.
“A lot of the money coming into the country goes to the military, and it goes to the military because North Korea sees it has to be strong because it’s worried about the South Koreans or the US trying to overthrow their government. throw,” he added.
“It all costs a lot of money and it seems that agriculture is taking second place.”
