'nk Wants Sanctions Relief due to Food Shortage'

Kim regime fears uprising: former UK ambassador to Pyongyang

By Kim Bo-eun

North Korea is keen to have sanctions eased, as the country faces a dire food shortage, a former UK ambassador to North Korea said.

After a summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi last month failed to produce an agreement, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters that Pyongyang had asked for sanctions relating to the people's livelihoods to be eased.

North Korea has asked the UN for food aid, stating it is facing a production shortfall of 14 million tons of food this year

Last year, North Korea's food production fell to its lowest in more than a decade, according to a recent UN report.

'The North Korean economy is in deep trouble,' said John Everard, who served as UK ambassador to Pyongyang from 2006 to 2008.

'Kim said in his first speech to his people there will be no return to the Arduous March. If hunger reappears, politically Kim will be in trouble.

He will be seen to have broken his promise to his people,' he said.

The Arduous March refers to a famine in North Korea that lasted from 1994 to 1998.

It is estimated to have resulted in at least 300,000 deaths from starvation and hunger-related illnesses.

The regime would consider the food shortage a dangerous situation, as it has concerns over a possible uprising, Everard said.

The former ambassador recalled what members of North Korea's ruling class told him while he was in Pyongyang.

'They said 'never tell ordinary people what we talk about.

' This came from the fear that people will turn against them,' he said.

'The regime is nervous ― it was then, it is now.

It is under constant pressure.'

Former North Korean Deputy Ambassador to the UK Thae Yong-ho, who defected to the South in 2016, referred to the possibility of an uprising after his defection, citing the influx of foreign media content.

NK intentions to denuclearize

Thae has also said the North Korean regime will never give up its nuclear program, because this is something that guarantees its continuation.

Everard disagrees, saying it is possible Pyongyang would give up its nuclear arsenal.

'If sanctions incurred by the nuclear program were causing such economic dislocation that the regime felt threatened by a mob, the regime might think twice about holding weapons,' he said.

Yet, 'The US would have to provide very good reasons for why North Korea should abandon its nuclear weapons,' he added.

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