North Korea tightens state control of food图片展示
发布时间：2024-10-19 观看次数：83045
North Korea tightens state control of food视频展示
North Korea tightens state control of food详情
 |
| A farmer tends to rice seedlings at the Namsa Co-op Farm of Pyongyang's Rangrang District, May 25, 2021. Signs are palpable that North Korea has been tightening state control over its entire economy, particularly food, a veteran journalist said on Wednesday. AP-Yonhap |
Famine worsens as Kim steps up fight against market forces: inside sources
By Jung Min-ho
North Korea's great famine in the 1990s, which was a direct result of failures by the state, gave rise to "jangmadang," the informal markets that eventually grew to play an essential role in the economic lives of its people.
But history is set to repeat, as Kim Jong-un, the state's young leader, is poised to tighten state control on the market economy, particularly on food, a veteran journalist said at Wednesday's seminar on the issue in Seoul. He added that Kim will likely unleash another devastating period of mass hunger upon his own people.
Citing six sources who are living in North Korea-China border regions, Jiro Ishimaru, who has been covering the rogue state for the past 30 years, said its food crisis may have already reached its worst level in more than two decades.
"This year has been worse than any other previous years," one of the sources said in a voice file presented at the event. "Many people are dying, especially young children and old people … Few pay attention to such deaths … People are scary."
The COVID-19 pandemic was the chief reason for the unfolding calamity as it isolated North Korea even more from the rest of the world. As well, its trade with China plummeted, cutting off an important source of its food supply, and personnel exchanges among its own citizens were restricted.
Worse still, the North Korean ruler has been trying to take back control ― perhaps full control ― of its food resources from market forces, according to Ishimaru.
"This January, North Korea completely banned the selling of food in markets. Since April, it has looked the other way for those selling small amounts. But it is still largely restricted," he said. "The state has also set up many guard posts in places where officials monitor for 'unlawful' food trade."
 |
| Jiro Ishimaru, a veteran journalist from Asiapress International, a media company based in Japan, speaks during a seminar on North Korea's food situation at the Press Center in Seoul, Wednesday, as he shows a photo of North Korean officials repairing fences near its China border. Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho |
Instead, the North Korean ruling elite have been trying to restore the old distribution system, in which people receive their meager rations from state-run grain stores, he said.
So far, the results of the policy experiment have been disastrous as it has dried up the flow of cash between people, leaving many in misery, especially those in cities, where they do not have direct access to food and cannot buy it as easily as before. As the state is strengthening its grip on other economic activities, from haircuts and other services to all sorts of manufacturing, their concerns only deepen, Ishimaru said.
The conference was held at a time when concerns about North Korea's economic situation are rising. In its report to the National Assembly last month, South Korea's intelligence agency also said that the number of North Koreans that have died from starvation have tripled so far this year, compared with the same period in previous years. It also said that the prices of corn and rice surged by 60 percent and 50 percent respectively during the first four months of this year, compared with the same period last year ― the fastest pace of increase since Kim took power in 2011.
At a critical juncture between capitalizing on the expanding market forces and regressing to a proven failed system, the North Korean ruler appears to have chosen the latter, said Oh Gyeong-seob, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a think tank.
"To me, it looks like a self-destructive policy, which reduces the purchasing power of North Koreans," he said. "It may take a while to figure out how it will affect popular sentiment and Kim's leadership, which does not show any will or capabilities to feed all North Koreans."