Facebook
Twitter
Meetup
Advertisements, links with an http address and inappropriate language will be deleted.
2017.06.28
| Won | Pyongyang | Sinuiju | Hyesan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Rate | 8,070 | 8,050 | 8,095 |
| Rice Price | 5,800 | 6,000 | 5,900 |
A year and a half of tribulations caused by weather and social factors has held farming regions of North Korea around the inter-Korean border in a state of distress, with weak food security leading to growing numbers of deaths from hunger and related disease.
A North Hamkyung Province source informed Daily NK on the 9th, “I recently visited Pyongyang and met with a cadre from the Cabinet. He told me personally that there had been quite a large increase in the number of deaths from hunger in border regions like Hwanghae Province.”
“Some cadres are worried that something like the ‘March of Tribulation’ could happen again,” the source went on. “There are reports that food production in Hwanghae Province is poor because last year we had a drought in spring and storms and typhoons in summer, leading to a few hundred deaths in each county in the region.”
“Last year from around May when the drought began, every farm in Hwanghae, including those in Anak, Baecheon, Kangryung and Ongjin counties, which are normally top food producers, suffered damage,” he pointed out.
There has not been a period of reliable farming in North Korea since the death of Kim Jong Il in mid-December 2011. Following the 100-day mourning period for Kim, which involved strict control of markets, drought arrived in May, taking a serious toll on the development of wheat and barley plants.
According to a report by the Korea Rural Economic Institute, most regions in North Korea had clear, dry weather at the time, leading to dramatically reduced rainfall between April and June, when the report was released.
Thereafter in July and August, rains and typhoons hit rice producers, exacerbating the state of affairs. Then, finally, late in the year the authorities placed everyone on military alert, and have only just begun to release the tension after one missile launch, a nuclear test and unusually wide-ranging military exercises centered on Gangwon Province.
The source agreed also that the taking of rice by the authorities for redistribution elsewhere has been having a deleterious effect on farming regions. Much of that which is produced in Hwanghae ends up in Pyongyang, as well as with the armed forces and domestic security agencies, leaving inadequate reserves for local people.
A North Hamkyung Province source informed Daily NK on the 9th, “I recently visited Pyongyang and met with a cadre from the Cabinet. He told me personally that there had been quite a large increase in the number of deaths from hunger in border regions like Hwanghae Province.”
“Some cadres are worried that something like the ‘March of Tribulation’ could happen again,” the source went on. “There are reports that food production in Hwanghae Province is poor because last year we had a drought in spring and storms and typhoons in summer, leading to a few hundred deaths in each county in the region.”
“Last year from around May when the drought began, every farm in Hwanghae, including those in Anak, Baecheon, Kangryung and Ongjin counties, which are normally top food producers, suffered damage,” he pointed out.
There has not been a period of reliable farming in North Korea since the death of Kim Jong Il in mid-December 2011. Following the 100-day mourning period for Kim, which involved strict control of markets, drought arrived in May, taking a serious toll on the development of wheat and barley plants.
According to a report by the Korea Rural Economic Institute, most regions in North Korea had clear, dry weather at the time, leading to dramatically reduced rainfall between April and June, when the report was released.
Thereafter in July and August, rains and typhoons hit rice producers, exacerbating the state of affairs. Then, finally, late in the year the authorities placed everyone on military alert, and have only just begun to release the tension after one missile launch, a nuclear test and unusually wide-ranging military exercises centered on Gangwon Province.
The source agreed also that the taking of rice by the authorities for redistribution elsewhere has been having a deleterious effect on farming regions. Much of that which is produced in Hwanghae ends up in Pyongyang, as well as with the armed forces and domestic security agencies, leaving inadequate reserves for local people.
