Mr.Talha Posted April 9, 2021 Posted April 9, 2021 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has told citizens to prepare for hard times ahead, following warnings from rights groups that the country faces dire food shortages and economic instability. Speaking at a party conference, Mr Kim appeared to compare the situation to the devastating 1990s famine, estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands. North Korea has shut its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trade with China, its economic lifeline, has come to a standstill. This is on top of existing international economic sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. Imagine a North Korean family... North Korea's sidelined human rights crisis The South Koreans enslaved in the North's mines What did Kim say? In a rare admission of looming hardship, the authoritarian leader of the single-party state on Thursday called on officials to "wage another, more difficult 'Arduous March' in order to relieve our people of the difficulty, even a little". The Arduous March is a term used by North Korea officials to refer to the country's struggle during the 1990s famine, when the fall of the Soviet Union left North Korea without crucial aid. The total number of North Koreans who starved to death is not known, but estimates range up to 3 million.
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