NK leader calls for attaining grain production goal amid reports of food shortages

• Published date: 02 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called on all farms across the country to focus on stepping up their grain production and meeting their goals for this year "without fail," wrapping up a four-day session of a key party meeting, Pyongyang's state media said Thursday.

Kim urged its people to overcome the agricultural challenge for this year to achieve the future goals of development during the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) held the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"In order to increase the nationwide agricultural output, attention should be paid to overcoming the lopsidedness in the guidance on farming and keeping the balance to be responsible for farming as a whole and it is important to concentrate on increasing the per-hectare yield at all the farms," the KCNA said in an English-language report.

The North's leader stressed the urgent need to "find out and remove in time the internal factors that have negative effect on the development of agriculture" for the stable development of agricultural production in the near future.

"Saying that nothing is impossible as long as there are the powerful leadership system established throughout the Party and the united strength of all the people, he ardently called for attaining this year's grain production goal without fail and successfully achieving the long-term objective of agricultural development for the sake of...