The admission came after Mr Kim issued a warning in June stating that the food situation is “getting tense” in the country. Reports from North Korea said the prices of food items have been skyrocketing since the beginning of 2021.

 

“The agricultural sector failed to fulfil its grain production plan,” Mr Kim was quoted as saying.

 

South Korea’s Korea Institute of National Unification has said rice price has soared due to lack of supply. In 2020, North Korean grain production also fell by an estimate of 5.2 per cent.

 

The problem has been intensifying partly due to the closure of North Korea’s borders since the beginning of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the domestic issue of flood related damages.

 

However, the food crisis was not unforeseen as the country began experiencing a crunch from the last year itself. The impoverished nation last year had an estimated food deficit of about 1 million metric tons, according to a report from the US department of agriculture in January. It also said North Koreans were eating 445 calories less a day than the 2,100-calorie diet recommended by the United Nations.