North Korea's Direction

The Night Watch tells us that food is again a priority for North Korea. The 11 May reports states (note, we have two spelling of Dear Leader Kim Jong il's name. Both Jong and Chong seem to be acceptable):

The government has declared food security its most pressing priority; Kim Chong-il has called for a “decisive turning point” this year to end chronic food shortages, Agence France-Presse reported on 11 May, citing the state-run Rodong Sinmun daily. As rice-planting season begins this month, Kim outlined a campaign “to bring about a renovation in cereal production and to make a decisive turning-point in solving the food problem,” the Communist party daily reported.

Food security is the North Korean term for ensuring a good harvest. This might be one of the key goals of the 150-day battle, announced last week.

This announcement is significant for several reasons. It is the first indirect admission by the government that food supply shortages have become a national priority. Kim has tried to hide the country’s agricultural catastrophe for years. Thirty years ago, North Korea was capable of feeding its people, supplying wartime needs and the army and feeding animals and industry from its agricultural surpluses. That capability was lost primarily because of mismanagement by 1993. Apparently whoever is in charge has reached the conclusion that the problem can no longer be ignored.

The admission that food is a major priority exposes a strategic vulnerability. The country still adheres to the Military First policy that Kim Chong-il instituted. Statements of national priority mean that the condition also affects the armed forces.

Finally, the irony of the announcement is that in 1993, Kim’s father, Kim Il-sung made a similar announcement. In announcing the end of the communist planning system as a failure, Kim Il-sung stated the national priorities were to be food security, consumer goods, goods for export and goods for the armed forces, thereby reversing the historic precedence of the armed forces.

Kim Il-sung died in July 1994 before he could implement the new priorities. His son and successor, Kim Chong-il, restored the historic military first priority after several assassination attempts by disgruntled soldiers in 1994 and early 1995. Kim Chong-il essentially has restored the North to where it was in 1993, relative to the priority of food production. The demographic data from the latest Supreme Peoples Assembly election indicate the number of mouths to feed is also the same as in 1993.

Not the comment about "whoever is in charge." I guess that means there are questions about the Dear Leader, Kim Chong-il and his control of the nation.

The other interesting point is that the population is pretty much the same as it was in 1993, 16 years ago. That suggests either a deliberate policy of population control or a fair rate of defections or deaths, or both.

As to the leadership issue, there is a report out of Korea on the 12th of May that talked to a special lecture session titled "Sagacious General Kim Cho'ng-un, the One and Only Successor of Great Leader Comrade Kim Jong Il."

The Sagacious General comes from a revolutionary family and is a graduate of Kim Il Sung University and Kim Il Sung Military University. He could be the successor to Kim Jong-il. Good luck to us all.

Regards  —  Cliff