South Korea said on Wednesday that North Korea’s food crisis appears to have worsened, as a newspaper reported that North Korea has cut its soldiers’ rations for the first time in more than two decades.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said North Korea has effectively acknowledged severe food shortages, referring to North Korean state media reports this month about plans for an “urgent” ruling party meeting on agriculture.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which oversees relations with North Korea, said in a statement that “its food situation appears to have worsened.”
North Korea has suffered severe food shortages in recent decades, including famine in the 1990s, often as a result of natural disasters such as floods damaging crops.
The isolated country is subject to strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and in recent years its limited border trade was virtually shut down by a self-imposed lockdown aimed at containing COVID-19.