Agricultural system improvements will be impossible to implement effectively if food distribution for farm workers is not being guaranteed, the Chosun Workers’ Party Agriculture Secretary allegedly told Kim Jong Eun during meetings convened to discuss implementation of the June 28th Policy earlier this summer. However, his assertion was allegedly ignored.
A well-positioned Japanese source passed the story on to Daily NK yesterday, saying, “In June, shortly after the June 28th Policy was announced, the Party Agriculture Secretary told Kim Jong Eun that 70% of farmers are weak from lack of food and cannot farm properly. He suggested that if the goal is to increase productivity levels through agricultural improvements and get farmers more interested in working hard, then food distribution for them must be normalized.”
“It appears that the Agriculture Secretary was reporting back on his own findings about actual farm conditions ahead of the agricultural reforms,” the source explained, going on, “The point being that agricultural reform will only bring about results if distribution is normalized first. He evidently thought that the important issue is guaranteeing food distribution, not dividing production 7:3 between state and farmer.”
The Agriculture Secretary also supposedly suggested that a one-year preparatory period be built into the plan so the groundwork for its implementation can be laid more fully.
However, the source went on, “Upon hearing the proposal, Kim Jong Eun said that the idea of starving farmers being unable to work is not believable; he said that they don’t farm because they aren’t diligent. So he ordered the plan to go ahead as intended.”
The source observed, “It is not that Kim Jong Eun doesn’t know the situation farmers are in; simply, he is determined to get results from his ambitious reform policy. It stems from the same root as his recent order to ramp up the penalties for those who do not turn up to work on the farm.”
“Kim Jong Eun thinks that unlike the industrial and commercial sectors, which require large amounts of money to reform, agricultural reform only needs a change in the distribution system,” he added.
