North Korea residents say food is so scarce that people are starving to death, reports the BBC.
The country has suffered one of the worst food crises in decades due to international isolation over sanctions, border closures following the COVID-19 pandemic, and floods and droughts last year that hurt its harvest. Just two months ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for soldiers to be a "driving force" in increasing food production by extending their service and spending that time on farms.
Sanctions over the country's nuclear program have devastated exports, according to The New York Times, and border closures following the pandemic cut off what little trade remained with China.
North Korea, which has a population of 26 million, has struggled for decades to produce enough food for its population.
Three people inside North Korea interviewed by the BBC said they are afraid they will either starve to death or be executed for breaking the rules.
One woman in Pyongyang said a family of three starved to death in their home.
"We knocked on their door to give them water, but nobody answered," she said. Authorities later entered and found them dead.
A construction worker who lives near the Chinese border told the news outlet that five people in his village had died from starvation.
"At first, I was afraid of dying from COVID, but then I began to worry about starving to death," he said.
North Korea economist Peter Ward said it was very concerning to hear of "normal, middle-class people" starving in their neighborhoods.
"We are not talking about full-scale societal collapse and mass starvation yet, but this does not look good," Ward added.
Hanna Song, the director of NKDB, which documents human rights violations in North Korea, agreed. "For the past 10-15 years we have rarely heard of cases of starvation. This takes us back to the most difficult time in North Korean history."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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