The North Hamgyong Province branch of North Korea’s ruling party convened a meeting of its executive committee to address food shortages that have been affecting the public since the beginning of the year, Daily NK has learned.
“Following reports that many families had so little food that they couldn’t attend a number of political events held on the Day of the Shining Star [the Feb. 16 holiday celebrating the birth of Kim Jong Il], executive members of the provincial party committee convened to discuss what measures should be taken,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Tuesday.
One of the officials reportedly mentioned during the meeting that North Hamgyong Province is stigmatized as a backward region that was the first to face the “Arduous March” (a severe famine in the mid-1990s), and that the province might be disgraced once again if it does not have the emergency grain reserves it ought to have laid aside.
In particular, the provincial party committee addressed the current food situation, including the failure to stabilize the market price of rice so early in the year, making it too expensive for ordinary people to buy. The committee also discussed the plight of people who were too hungry to attend political events connected with the birthday of Kim Jong Il.
In addition, the provincial party committee said that after examining trends in nearly all parts of the province, it had determined that the food supply was the issue of greatest concern for residents.
“The provincial party committee stressed that at such a challenging time, officials need to be committed to taking full responsibility for people’s livelihoods,” the source said.
“The committee said that all party organs, people’s committees, and management committees should work together to look after the livelihoods of people who are in trouble, and find families who are struggling before the busy farming season and help them at the province’s expense to ensure that nobody starves to death,” he added.
The source also reported how officials responded to the appeal from the provincial party committee for people to tighten their belts even further and hold on until the fall.
“Officials said they were discouraged by this appeal, remarking that they tighten their belts every year and asking how much more belt-tightening would be needed to emerge from these troubles,” he said. “They also protested that these meetings are always about enduring, and never lead to hopeful declarations about taking all available measures to resolve the food issue.”
The source also said that members of the provincial party committee mentioned in the same meeting that preparations for this year’s agricultural work should be carefully managed.
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