In anticipation of tropical storm Khanun, North Korea’s military and the Party were ordered to prepare flood-mitigation measures and salvage crops earlier this month. The effects of the typhoon have been devastating to many parts of the country, particularly in South Hamgyong Province, where “Day after day of continuous rain … caused serious damage to families living in single-story homes who haven’t kept up with repairs on broken tiles.” As a result, “Families with little children have been sending them to sleep in undamaged houses while they stay up all night mopping the water.” Amidst the chaos, signs of greater food insecurity have also emerged with citizens “moaning about their predicament – along with not having enough to eat, they now have to stay up all night to deal with rain leaking through their roofs.”
Even though North Korean state media quoted its leader Kim Jong-un’s seemingly high regard for its people, saying that “For our Party, the life of each and every one of our people is more precious than anything else, and only when the whole people are healthy can there be a Party,” it ordered citizens to prioritize the protection of propaganda statues, monuments and murals of the country’s leaders.
KIM JONG-UN’S PRIORITIES
There were specific instructions passed down by the Party, stating that “Above all, there should be a primary focus on reconfirming the security status of significant objects including portraits, statues, mosaic murals representing the great leader and general, (and) immortality towers.” Other Party slogans, historical sites and museums, which are linked to worship of the Kim family are among the assets that citizens and officials should actively protect by visiting the local areas themselves “rather than giving instructions and receiving reports on the results.” According to Andrei Lankov, Director at Korea Risk Group, “These statues and portraits are not just symbols, but are sacred religious symbols, essentially icons. … Every religion since times immemorial expects its faithful to be ready to die – or at least suffer – in order to save sacred icons.” Moreover, citizens can face execution for damaging their leader’s portrait, even if it was unintentional.
North Korea’s Party-oriented priorities over the health and safety of its people extend to the protection of its crops and forests. Authorities have formed nationwide emergency response committees and mobilized citizens to prevent damage to crops and infrastructure projects from floods at the cost of people’s homes and livelihoods. Factory workers have reportedly been ordered to dig ditches at cooperative farms with non-functioning water pumps, and the operation is expected to last until the end of the monsoon season. Meanwhile, a citizen from South Pyongan complained that the authorities “paid no attention to concerns about the flooding of homes” and asked residents to “deal with it on their own” as water swept into yards and homes, flooding rooms and destroying property, including blankets and televisions. Another source from Hyesan criticized the authorities for issuing mobilization orders to residents to restore trees as she questioned what good trees will do “when we are starving because there is nothing to eat right now.” As a form of punishment, residents who do not take part in the forest restoration must “prepare a lunch box [for others who are mobilized] and pay 10,000 won (US$1.20) in cash.”
SERIOUS FOOD SHORTAGES
The North Korean economy has been trapped in a “vicious cycle” of negative growth for three years from 2020 and 2022 and the people are paying the price. As described by Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification, Pyongyang’s recent emphasis on the agricultural sector is “seemingly out of desperation that food issues could become a serious problem.”
Further, following accusations by the UN Security Council condemning the regime for overspending on its nuclear arms program while neglecting its citizens’ basic needs, state media showed recent images of Kim Jong-un visiting typhoon-hit farms and overseeing military helicopters spray pesticides to save key crops. Kim’s public appearance in paddy fields in Kangwon Province, whereby he was seen inspecting restoration activities at a farm which was recently damaged by a typhoon, sparked speculations that there are serious food shortages across the country, especially amid reports alleging that around 240 North Koreans had starved to death between January and July this year, which was more than double the annual average of 110. Kim praised the rapid response of the military to the typhoon damage as “performing a miracle of recovering flooded farmland in a brief span of time,” but experts questioned how effective the measures would be, claiming that “Kim Jong Un’s order to mobilize air force planes is merely a show.”
