SEOUL -- Amid accounts of starvation, food shortages in the army and runaway inflation, senior economic officials in North Korea have been fired in recent days, according to reports in the South Korean media.

The dismissals were reported during a week in which North Korean leader Kim Jong Il made a rare admission of his state's failure to provide citizens with an acceptable standard of living.

"I am most heartbroken by the fact that our people are living on corn," Kim said in a report monitored by Yonhap, the South Korean news agency. "What I must do now is feed them white rice, bread and noodles generously."

Kim made a similar admission in January, mentioning white rice and meat soup. But the likelihood of his being able to improve short-term nutrition in his country seems small.

South Korean officials have said that a poor harvest last fall has set up North Korea for a possible severe food shortage this spring.

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