Pyongyang has ordered every citizen in the capital to provide around 2 pounds of rice to the state’s supplies every month, while farmers are forced to hand over additional rations from their own meager crops to the military, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported.
The comments from state media come amid reports of North Koreans hoarding their food supplies, according to The Telegraph. Kim Jong Un’s regime has been cracking down on open-air markets that have served as a source of additional food for city dwellers.
“Even if we give up our lives, we should continue to show our loyalty to our leader, Kim Jong Un, until the end of our lives,†the state-run newspaper wrote, calling for a “70-day campaign of loyalty.â€
Much of North Korea’s population of 25 million is already hungry, but new sanctions, the most severe in 20 years, were approved by the UN Security Council after Pyongyang’s February nuclear weapons test and a recent long-range missile launch.
The sanctions will further cripple North Korean trade and squeeze Kim’s weapons programs. Under them, UN members are even barred from accepting the reclusive nation’s main exports of coal and iron ore.
But experts don’t expect Kim’s belligerence to stop just because the world shuns him. The latest message to the suffering people is yet another one of collective sacrifice.
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