SEOUL, April 30 (Reuters) - North Korea is stepping up nationwide efforts to protect crops from an unusually severe drought ahead of the rice-planting season, state media KCNA said on Thursday, as the isolated state continues to face chronic food insecurity.
KCNA said state agencies were mobilising officials to send farming supplies, secure irrigation water and put pumps and other equipment into use to limit damage to early-season wheat and barley crops.
Premier Pak Thae Song inspected farms in South Pyongan, South Hwanghae and North Hwanghae provinces and urged officials to make full use of water sources, strengthen irrigation systems and raise mechanisation in rice planting, KCNA said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned at a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea in 2024 that failing to provide people with basic living necessities, including food, was a "serious political issue," state media reported.
North Korea has long struggled with food shortages, including during famines in the 1990s, worsened by sanctions, border closures, limited farm inputs and weather shocks.
U.N. agencies say agricultural output routinely falls short of needs, with millions undernourished and vulnerable to disasters such as droughts and floods.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim; Editing by Ed Davies)
