South Korean Unification Minister, Lee In-young, on Thursday said North Korea might suffer a food shortage increase in 2021, with a projected deficit of 1.3 million tonnes.
Speaking at a plenary session of the parliament’s diplomacy and unification committee, the minister cited 2020 floods and typhoons as the probable cause of the alleged food shortage increase.
“If we add the 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes (from the typhoon damage) to the approximately one million tonnes annual shortage, we can estimate the North’s food shortage,“ Lee said as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
In 2020, North Korea faced severe flooding caused by a series of typhoons from July to September, thought to have devastated the country’s farming areas and exacerbating its food crisis.
