Chanchun, China — The North Korean authorities recently ordered each collective farm to store food provisions in the “No. 2 Storage (rice reserve for the military for wartime emergencies)” as the first priority to support the People’s Army. Consequently, there has been concern that the remainder of the food allocated to farmers will only last three to four months this year.
An affiliate of the food policy office in a county of Pyongyang said via a Daily NK source, “The decree has been given that by the end of November when the fall harvest is completed, the No. 2 Storage will be first and foremost filled and that food be provided to the military as prescribed.”
The No. 2 Storage, a wartime reserve created for emergency times to feed civilians and the army in each city and county, is gathered under the pretext of preparing for wartime emergencies and is gathered under the direction of food policy offices and collective farms in each region.
North Korea, after undergoing a serious food crisis this year, executed the order around May allowing rice reserved in the No. 2 storage to be used if it means it will prevent starvation deaths. During the drought the city and county party organizations and Administrative Committee provided food to special provision recipients and the People’s army through the No. 2 storage, but since April, in the aftermath of the drought period, the reserve has been exhausted.
The affiliate stated, “According to the Rural Management Committee in Pyongyang, the estimated grain harvest amount is supposed to be around 5.5 million tons. But, even the city and county food policy organizations have predicted that it will not be easy to secure food due to the recent decree.”
He relayed, “The order decreed to each level of food policy offices stated, ‘One must not neglect the situation of the People’s Army, the pillar of the country and the main force of the Revolution, to not receiving adequate provisions. In order to prepare for all kinds of the enemies’ aggressive schemes, the goal of meeting the target for rice reserves should be achieved all at once.”
If each level of the rural economic committee implements the decree there is a possibility that subsequent volumes of harvest being used to supply the military will increase. That means the amount that farmers get will decrease.
The source relayed, “When the autumn harvest begins, the army will be dispatched to the farms and will begin to guard the harvested grain. The farmers have no choice but to secure next year’s food provision by stealing the corn or rice in the fields before that happens.” He forecasted that the contest for food will intensify between the authorities and the farmers this year.
A North Pyongan Province citizen who visited his relatives in China met with a reporter and complained, “I only received 150kg from the farm last year due to the flood. This does not even amount to four months of food for my household of four. People thought that the farming went well this year, but if they cannot enjoy the returns from it, what choice do they have but to steal from the fields in the middle of the night?”
