{"id":4339,"date":"2019-10-08T16:44:26","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T07:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=4339"},"modified":"2019-10-15T10:13:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T01:13:17","slug":"frisked-for-grain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2019\/10\/recommendations\/frisked-for-grain\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Checkpoint Barley: Farmers Frisked for Grain as Authorities Secure Shrinking Food Supply for Government and Army First"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Farmers are starving due to the regime\u2019s structural exploitation. Photograph taken by ASIAPRESS<\/p><\/div>\n

Since mid-September, \u201cgrain checks\u201d have been carried out across the North Korean countryside to prevent rice and corn from being sold privately by farmers.<\/p>\n

A reporting partner from North Hamkyung Province said, \u201cThe police and discharged soldiers have set up checkpoints along the roads in the countryside to inspect people\u2019s luggage. The most grain each farmer is allowed to take away from their farm at a time is 15 kilograms. There are some who want to sneak out with some of their crops to sell privately at markets; if they are caught, they must forfeit everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such \u201cgrain checks\u201d happen each year, however, this year\u2019s are supposed to be exceptionally strict. As this year\u2019s harvest was even worse than last year\u2019s, the authorities are strictly controlling grain supplies and are doing their utmost to ensure that food is first secured for the military and government agencies.<\/p>\n

\uff1cN.Korea photo report\uff1eA Look at North Korea's Impoverished Rural Women (2) \"Life is like being a cow on a farm\" (Photo 5)<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u25c6 Lack of farming supplies due to financial difficulties<\/h2>\n

The reporting team of ASIAPRESS has conducted inspections of various farms in North Hamkyung Province, Ryanggang Province, and South Pyongyang Province. To begin with, reporting partners found that overall grain production was very poor this year. As record-high temperatures and drought hit the country last year, the Kim Jong-un regime, as it has done each year since 2011, was forced to once again request food aid from UN agencies. According to reporting partners though, this year\u2019s food situation will almost certainly be far worse than last year\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The previously mentioned reporting partner, from North Hamkyung Province, visited a cooperative farm producing corn. The leader of the farm told the reporting partner, \u201cProduction will come out to 10-15% less than last year\u2019s total, which was itself a disaster. It is simply impossible to achieve the quota set by the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The farmer cited the following reasons for this year\u2019s poor output:<\/p>\n