N. Korea's state media mentions 'grave' situation in food supply in Kaesong in 2023

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un speaks during an enlarged meeting of the 12th plenary meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang, in this undated photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, June 24. Yonhap

North Korea's state media has reported that a "grave" situation in food supply might have occurred in the city of Kaesong in early 2023, in what could be a rare admission of food shortage in the reclusive state.

In 2023, unconfirmed media reports had said starvation-related deaths were witnessed in North Korea, including Kaesong, at that time, due to border lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North's quarterly magazine named Korean Architecture has reported that the North's farm controls in 2022 "created a grave situation that could cut off food supply to people in Kaesong" in January 2023.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had ordered officials to distribute "strategic reserve crops" to Kaesong and people in the North Korean city expressed gratitude, according to the report.

North Korea suffered a massive famine and related deaths during the period of the Arduous March in the 1990s.

North Korea adopted a new policy in October 2022 to tighten state control on the distribution of rice and other grains. But the move was believed to have disrupted food supplies, as farmers and merchants refrain from selling rice to state-designated facilities due to fears of losses, observers said.