Mick Hartley

From the Times:

Pictures of Kim Jong-un visiting farmland devastated by a typhoon have been released hours after the UN condemned Pyongyang for letting its people starve while spending heavily on weapons.

North Korea’s official news agency said: “Going round paddy fields in the typhoon-affected areas, the respected comrade Kim Jong-un received a general report on the recovery from the damage and learned in detail about the relevant agrotechnical measures for overcoming the damage.”

The North Korean dictator, who was pictured squatting by the paddies as military helicopters sprayed pesticides on damaged crops, predicted a “complete recovery from the damage”.

On Monday, Kim was also shown visiting the area, berating local officials for the typhoon damage, which he said was “entirely due to extremely chronic and irresponsible work attitude of agricultural guidance organs and party organisations in the region”, according to the Pyongyang Times….

Deaths due to starvation are reported to be up as the North’s economy has suffered due to a combination of increased isolation during the pandemic, international sanctions and crop failures blamed on extreme weather.

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo:

More and more North Koreans are dying from starvation and the number of people fleeing the dictatorship has tripled, the National Intelligence Service here said Thursday.

NIS officials told the National Assembly Intelligence Committee that the North Korean economy has been shrinking and its GDP contracted 12 percent from 2016 until last year.

The spy agency estimates that at least 240 North Koreans starved to death between January and July this year amid a worsening food shortage, more than double the average of 110 per year over the past five years.

"The number of defectors dropped sharply after the regime shut the border in the pandemic, but this year, some 90 people have escaped from the North so far," People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Sang-beom said quoting the NIS. "That is about three times the number of last year. More are expected to flee once the border with China reopens fully."