N. Korea hints at 'second march of hardship'

By Choi Sung-jin

The North Korean government has set about uniting residents while commenting on the possibility of a “second march of hardship,” Pyongyang watchers say.

It is also conducting a national food-saving campaign, indicating the physical and mental pressure the isolationist regime feels from the international community’s tightened sanctions, and the recent largest joint military drill by South Korea and the United States, they said.

Rodong Shinmun, the mouthpieces of the Workers’ Party, said in Monday’s editorial: “The road to revolution is long and bumpy. This republic may have to brace up for another march of hardship, during which we will have to chew grass roots.”

The propaganda machine was referring to Pyongyang’s slogan demanding people’s sacrifice to survive economic crisis in the wake of the death of its founder, Kim Il-sung, in the mid-1990s, during which millions of North Koreans reportedly starved to death.

It was the first time the paper had mentioned the phrase, in the middle of tightening sanctions imposed after the North conducted its fourth nuclear test and launched its sixth long-range rocket.

The North Korean regime has collected 1 kg of food a month from each citizen in its capital city, preparing for the long, difficult period ahead and raising awareness among the people. According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the communist state has a food shortage of 440,000 tons but has secured only 17,600 tons.

Part of the food-conservation drive is to solidify popular support for young leader Kim Jong-un in the run-up to the escalating confrontation with Seoul and Washington and for the successful holding of the party’s seventh national congress in May, analysts said.