Food shortage in NK reaches 1.5 million tons

By Kim Se-jeong

North Korea is in need of about 1.5 million tons of food this year to feed its 24 million people, U.N. organizations said.

Speaking to Radio Free Asia based in Washington D.C., a United Nations official said a recent field study done by the World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found there is a gap of roughly 1.9 million tons between the anticipated amount of food that will be produced and demand.

According to the official, approximately 5.1 million tons of produce, including rice and potato, is expected to be harvested in the fall, but the whole population needs 7 million tons of food.

The regime has managed to import a little over 300,000 tons of grain, still leaving it wanting for some 1.5 million tons.

Suffering serious food shortages, the North has been receiving food aid from international organizations, non-governmental organizations and individual countries. The WFP shipped 2,700 tons of food last month.

Due to political instability and intervention in the monitoring process, the regime has had a problem even securing a flow of food aid. It’s believed that it keeps the donated grain for the military.

Since 1995, the South Korean government has offered help, which has been suspended from time to time.

The United States, the European Union, Vietnam, Norway and Brazil are among individual state donors, which give grain and other food items.

One diplomat based in Seoul said live rabbits are also on the donation list.

The EU, under the Food Security Thematic Program, runs a project in North Korea, restoring a couple of rabbit breeding farms.

According to Muriel Baum, a program manager on North Korea, the rabbit breeding project is to balance North Koreans’ diet, which often lacks protein.

According to FAO statistics, North Korea is the world’s fourth largest indigenous rabbit meat producer, following China, Venezuela and Italy.