North Korea's Kim Jong Un focuses on agriculture amid food shortage concerns

(MENAFN) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a significant political conference focused on agriculture, according to state media reports on Monday. This event comes as outside experts suggest that the country is grappling with a severe food shortage. South Korean experts estimate that North Korea needs roughly one million tons of grain, which is nearly 20 percent of its annual demand. However, the pandemic has disrupted unofficial grain imports from China, and the government has limited food sales at markets.

Reports from South Korean media indicate that some North Koreans have died from starvation, although most experts have not seen evidence of mass deaths or famine in the country. During the ruling Workers' Party high-level meeting, senior party officials evaluated their progress on state objectives to achieve a "rural revolution in the new era." The plenary meeting of the party's Central Committee is expected to identify "immediate, important" tasks on agricultural issues and "urgent tasks arising at the present stage of the national economic development," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

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