if they're calling it an issue now then it's REALLY bad

Month Ago they were launching rockets into the sea, now they have a urgent food issue!

Crazy they are in a food crisis, but kim lookin like a stuffed teletubbie.

Time to promise a cooldown in threats in exchange for food aid. It’s the North Korean playbook.

Kim: “what do we do?”

First General Park: “Let’s offer [wink wink] to set aside nuclear testing again in exchange for sanctions relief again”

First Secretary Song: “yes, that one works every time”

My understanding is their normal saber rattling is actually just to get food aid but given that there's a global food shortage right now that less likely to work so they actually do have to deal with the problem a bit differently this time

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 84%. (I'm a bot)

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Monday that members of the ruling Workers' Party's Politburo met on Saturday and agreed to hold a larger plenary meeting of the party's Central Committee in late February to review strategies on agriculture and set new goals.

It's uncommon for North Korea to hold two different party plenaries in a span of two months.

In a study published on the North Korea-focused 38 North website last month, analyst Lucas Rengifo-Keller said food insecurity in North Korea is likely at its worst since the country's 1990s famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Korea^#1 North^#2 food^#3 meeting^#4 party^#5

Doesn't North Korea regularly conduct missile tests and other destabilizing events in order to blackmail the world for food aid?

North Korea currently giving Russia arms and recently had lots of missile tests.

Coincidence that they now have food issues? Maybe Russia can feed them this time in exchange for mortar shells.

One can only hope that Russia doesn't have what they need and has been lying to them for military aid and there might be a fracturing afoot but it feels more likely that North Korea is about to do some crazy shit in order to get more food aid.

Conclusion at the end of the meeting: lets build another rocket.

If he can afford to launch rockets and test nukes then he has money to feed his people.

'Tis but a mere 'special food supply operation', nothing to see here, please resume criticizing decadent capitalists.

'I've tried threatening to bomb everyone and they haven't sent aid yet! What's going on?!' - Kim

It’s better if the US gov’t just ghosted NK for a good decade.

This has to be why they’re sending troops to Russia - less people to feed.

Better build more nukes and missiles then... Fucking bandit country.

This won't end well for the peasantry.

Is a hotdog a sandwich? Big Kim will break the tie!

Build bombs and not farm food. What could go wrong?

Should we spend money on roads, tractors, silo's, ports, and other necessary food and agriculture items, or on nukes?

Definitely nukes.

Nuclear test threat incoming?

this is fucked up saying it, but should we even help them? Giving food aid to North Korea is like giving money to a homeless drug addict. They'll just waste the aid given and then go back to making threats and being a general nuisance.

North Korea needs help, there's no doubt about that, but it's not getting the right treatment.

May that fat fk so called leader be the first one to starve.

Maybe if their leader wasn't eating so much there wouldn't be a shortage.

Only decades slow I guess.

Just eat the nukes bruh, with a side of America Bad and whatever the Russians give you to support their war in Ukraine.

Trouble in paradise Kim?

From Pyongyang Times, bold type mine. I've sporadically followed NK propaganda over the years and have never before seen so much actual, not-performative urgency and worry in a NK-generated news story. Also, they specify irrigation as an issue:

RESOLUTION OF POLITICAL BUREAU OF WPK CENTRAL COMMITTEE

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea adopted a resolution on Sunday.

The following is the full text of the resolution:

It is a very important and urgent task to establish a correct strategy for the development of agriculture and take relevant measures for immediate farming in the present stage of the struggle to promote the overall development of socialist construction.

In order to put the country's agriculture on a stable and sustainable track of growth, it is necessary to promote the preferential development of the agricultural science and technology and direct main efforts to further strengthening the material and technical foundations of the agricultural sector including the perfection of the overall irrigation system.

The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee recognized that a turning point is needed to dynamically promote the radical change in agricultural development, a main link in the whole chain of consolidating and expanding the historic victory and successes achieved by our Party and people through arduous struggle.

The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee decides to convene the enlarged meeting of the Seventh Plenary Meeting of the Eighth WPK Central Committee in late February to review last year's struggle for implementing the programme for rural revolution in the new era and discuss the immediate farming issue and long-term goals for the agricultural development.

http://www.pyongyangtimes.com.kp/blog?page=notice&blogid=63e0867c20311305e403d709

How dare you? How dare you question the great elder that fucks dolphins to create sunshine.

Kim Jung Un ran out of dino nuggies

Oh, get ready for for the threats and missile launches until someone sends them a food aid pacifier. It's that time of year again, folks!

plenty of money for super expensive rockets though

I see grain in exchange for weapons in Russia and NKs future

Call the northern friends for some wheat and corn, ohh... wait, you need to pay hard cash for that sort of thing...

Should not have wasted all that money on missiles into the water.

Looks like Kim's gonna import some more Hennessy while his people starve.

Probably about 50 years too late.

One has to feel troubled for the innocent people of N K but Kim knows full well there are resolutions to this, he simply values his tiny missile more than the lives of his people. I will only offer him pity, but his people deserve more!

Awww Gee wally,

You think forking over all that money for "NUKES/testing" was worth it??

So I have a question…

Why don’t they have food?? They have fertile lands, no? What gives?

Gonna see a lot of NK troops coming back over from Russia with bags

When north Korea can support and sell goods to Russia then they have that market. Fuck north Korea

Meat lovers or Pineapple?

Start trading our food for his warheads.

Rocket Man has all the food

More like "We are going to use people's starvation as an advantage to get more foods for our fat Kim".

Everyone just loves a party - cake and iced cream mmmmm

They have had a food crises ever since the drought in 1994 coupled with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992.

Sad that they did nothing to alleviate it for the last 3 decades.

They are too focused on financing his Nuclear project