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North Korea would hold a ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) meeting amid severe food shortages

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BNN Correspondents
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According to reports, North Korea would hold key party meetings later this month to discuss agricultural issues. This meeting is held, amid expectations of whether it will unveil any practical measures to address its serious food shortages.

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Earlier, N.Korea announced that it will hold a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in late February to discuss ‘immediate farming issues and long-term goals for the agricultural development’. But, it didn’t specify any date.

North’s state media said, “it is very important and urgent to establish the correct strategy for development and agriculture, and to take relevant measures”.

South Korea’s unification ministry said that North Korea’s food crisis appears to be worsening, with more deaths from starvation being reported in ‘some regions’.

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The ministry official did not elaborate when asked if starvation-related deaths are being witnessed in big cities, like the border town of Kaesong. The official said, North Koreans are dying of starvation in many regions and such deaths occurred recently too.

The ministry official said, “A fall in crop production and food distribution problems are apparently attributable to the North’s food shortages”.

According to a report by the South’s Rural Development Administration, North Korea's crop production is estimated to have reached 4.51 million tons in 2022. This is down by 3.8 per cent from the earlier year.

The ministry said, North's crackdown on grain transactions at marketplaces also appears to have disrupted food distribution.

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