North Korea’s food crisis appears to have worsened, South Korea said on Wednesday, and a newspaper reported that North Korea had gone so far as to cut rations for its soldiers, a measure not taken in more than two decades, Reuters reported.

North Korea has effectively acknowledged a serious food shortage, South Korea’s unification ministry said, citing a North Korean state media report this month of plans for an “urgent” ruling party meeting on agriculture.

“It appears that his food situation has worsened,” South Korea’s unification ministry, which deals with relations with North Korea, said in a statement.

North Korea has suffered severe food shortages in recent decades, including famine in the 1990s, often after natural disasters such as floods that destroyed crops.

The isolated country is under severe international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and in recent years its international trade – limited as it is – has been effectively stifled by arbitrary blockades aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.

H2: “Below the minimum level necessary for human needs”

South Korea’s DongA Ilbo daily reported on Wednesday that North Korea had cut daily food rations for its soldiers for the first time since 2000. The Unification Ministry said it could not confirm the information in the article, but was monitoring the situation along with other government agencies.

North Korea’s state news agency KCNA wrote on February 6 that the Workers’ Party of Korea convened a meeting of the party’s Central Committee at the end of February for the “very important and urgent task of establishing the right strategy for agricultural development.”

South Korea’s Unification Ministry emphasized that North Korea rarely convenes such a special meeting.

Last month, the US-based monitoring group 38 North said that “food availability in North Korea has likely fallen below the minimum level necessary for human needs” and that food security is the worst since famine in the 1990s.

South Korea’s Unification Minister Kwon Yong-se said recent North Korean media reports that leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter appeared at state ceremonies could be aimed at strengthening unity and loyalty to the ruling family amid deepening humanitarian concerns. .

“The food situation in North Korea does not look very good. We’re seeing a number of signs … although there doesn’t seem to be a wave of people dying of starvation yet,” Kwon told parliament.

Kwon added that North Korea had asked the UN’s food agency (the World Food Programme) for aid, but talks had not progressed due to disagreements over monitoring any aid.