Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
(NK Brief No. 08-9-18-1)
2008-09-18
The latest issue of the North Korean academic journal “Institute for Social Science Bulletin” (no.3, 2008) stressed that in order to resolve the North’s food shortage problems as quickly as possible, “it is necessary to take a good assessment of future food consumption [needs].”
In this issue, recently obtained in South Korea, an article reads, “the project for resolving the food issue cannot be pushed forward into the future, and while taking into consideration what steps can be taken now, the country’s food problems cannot ultimately be relieved by relying only on short-term benefits. On the contrary, [this] can adversely affect the future resolution of the food issue.”
The journal also added, “The task of restructuring food production must start with an assessment of future food consumption and start off with a view of long term interests rather than from starting from a standpoint of short-term interests in order to completely relieve food supply problems.” It stressed, “These days, resolving the country’s food supply problem is the most urgent and important task…solving food issues is an urgent problem that cannot be delayed a single moment,” but warned, “while the food issue must be solved without a day’s delay, recklessly pushing forward without scientific calculation or goals could result in insufficient and disorganized future results.”
