The North Hamgyong Province Party Committee recently held an emergency enlarged meeting to address food provisions for local residents.
The meeting came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a “special order” during the Third Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee last month, making specific mention of the nation’s food shortages.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Friday that the provincial branch of the Workers’ Party convened an emergency enlarged meeting on June 28 to deal with rising rice prices and public food shortages. He said the provincial party secretary oversaw the meeting, which was tasked with “formulating emergency measures to overcome the immediate food crisis.”
Major officials reportedly participated in the meeting, including four cadres from the Central Committee and Cabinet who arrived from Pyongyang, cadres from the provincial party, the commander and political officers of the Ninth Corps, cadres from the provincial people’s committee and cadres from the provincial branches of the Ministry of State Security, Ministry of Social Security, and provincial prosecutors office.
According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the meeting discussed ways to provide food in the province, eliminate extreme poverty, and stabilize the lives of the people, with a focus on the need to overcome the immediate food crisis through efforts led by the provincial party.
To overcome current food shortages, the provincial party reportedly called for “systemized efforts” to continuously report on food requirements for daily provisions to local residents, as well as on remaining food stores. It also called on all government bodies to “act as one in guaranteeing continuous provisions of food to locals in an absolute and unconditional manner.”
As part of efforts to stabilize rice prices, the meeting reportedly ordered officials to “educate and persuade” merchants with large supplies of rice and to “mercilessly” punish those who fail to follow orders.
Moreover, the provincial party secretary was tasked with assuming overall responsibility for controlling and carrying out national food provision efforts “until every last person in North Hamgyong Province has food.” It was also mentioned that the party’s Central Committee would assume responsibility for this in the future.
The source said, however, that most of the officials who attended the meeting quietly expressed exasperation, wondering how they would provide food when “national and military rice stores were empty.”
Meanwhile, although there has been a nationwide announcement that military rice stores will be released to local residents, Daily NK understands that the authorities have not made any real moves to implement this measure.
