North Korean Leader Showed Commitment to Agriculture

Farmers in North Korea (Wikimedia)

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un put 5,500 farm machines on display on September 27 in the central square of Haeju, the capital of South Hwanghae Province, according to the U.S.-based NK News, demonstrating his commitment to solving the country’s agriculture problems. Held in the most important grain-producing region, this ceremony marked the start of the harvest season, a “crucial time” to fulfill this year’s production goals. Kim allegedly gifted these machines to the local farmers, stressing the urgency of solving “the people’s eating problem.”

Additionally, Kim Jong-un traveled to South Hamgyong Province on October 11, Reuters reports, to attend the opening ceremony of Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm– built on a former nuclear testing site and covering an area of 280 hectares. The new farm is expected to exemplify industrialized agricultural production, efficient management, and rural development. Kim also called for the construction of similar large-scale farms, as the country strives to create a self-reliant agricultural system amid international sanctions over its nuclear programs.

It is unusual for North Korea to emphasize agriculture right after the anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea on October 10, a day on which the country has previously launched ballistic missiles and reaffirmed its aggressive diplomatic stances. Kim’s farm visit echoes his 2022 New Year’s Address, in which he declared “boosting agricultural production to completely resolve the country’s food problem” to be a prominent objective for the year, along with developing military strength.

Despite Kim Jong-un’s grand strategy of reforming the economy and improving the standard of living, the food shortage problem in North Korea has persisted since Kim took power in 2011, even after foreign aid mitigated the severity of the crop deficit. Climate abnormalities this year further exacerbate the dire situation the North Korean agricultural sector has to confront. An extended drought following the rainstorms in March resulted in the second-lowest precipitation ever recorded since 1981, leaving agricultural production significantly lower than expected.

As North Korea imposed a strict border shutdown in response to the global pandemic, it has become more difficult for supplies to come into the country from China, similarly experiencing economic repercussions brought about by the pandemic. Moreover, a COVID-19 outbreak in May, which infected nearly 20 percent of the country’s largely unvaccinated population, put some North Koreans in danger of malnutrition and starvation by interrupting the mobilization of labor in the crucial anti-drought campaign.

Although North Korea has been struggling to feed its citizens, it has openly rejected South Korea’s proposal of exchanging denuclearization for economic support, labeling President Yoon Suk Yeol’s suggestions “pipedream-like remarks.” Limited on policy options, North Korea has turned to India for rice donation, an advertisement looking for a vessel to ship 10,000 tons of rice from India to North Korea has been circulating online.