N.Korea admits military caused massive famine in province

North Korea has admitted in an internal document that a massive famine in South Hwanghae Province in January and February was a human-induced disaster, the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun said Friday.

Quoting a North Korean source, the daily said a document drawn up by the North’s ruling Workers` Party in mid-March said, "The massive famine occurred due to excessive provision of food to the military.”

The province is considered the North`s breadbasket but crop yields fell due to floods in July last year. With the government collecting most of the yields, farm workers in the province also received just two to three months worth of food. Because of this, the daily said, a number of workers and their families at collective farms in the province’s three counties starved to death, and a similar incident occurred in Kaesong, North Hwanghae Province.

On the disaster, the internal document of the Workers` Party reportedly said, “South Hwanghae Province is in trouble due to floods. In particular, the number of households suffering from food shortages has grown.”

The Workers’ Party also admitted that food shortages were caused not only by bad crops but also by excessive collection of provisions for the military, saying “Those at collective farms are having difficulty securing military provisions,”

The daily said, “North Korea’s basic principle is a military-first policy,” adding, “It is unprecedented for North Korea to admit in an internal document that the collection of food for the military resulted in the disaster.”

bae2150@donga.com