Kim Jong-un touts domestic agenda as North Korea faces food shortage


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, marking his 10th year in power, delivered a speech at a Workers' Party of Korea conference in which, according to state media summaries released Saturday, he avoided bellicose rhetoric. Instead, Reuters reported, the dictator focused on domestic, pocketbook issues.
Kim broke with precedent by making only vague allusions to ongoing tensions with South Korea and the United States. He did, however, pledge to make "radical progress in solving the food, clothing, and housing problem for the people."
North Korea, always insular, closed its borders in January 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to BBC. State media claims North Korea has had zero cases of the virus, but most external observes doubt this assertion.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This self-imposed isolation has led to food shortages. "North Korea's trade with China, its biggest trading partner and an economic pipeline, shrank by about 80 percent in 2020 before it plunged again by two-thirds in the first nine months of last year," NPR reports. According to Newsweek, North Koreans were paying more than $20 a pound for bananas by June 2021.
Chad O'Carroll, founder of Seoul-based NK News, tweeted that this shift suggests "North Korea is more or less in survival mode for 2022 — and doesn't really know what to do re: foreign policy right now."
In addition to keeping much-needed food out, the authoritarian nation's increased border security and tight restrictions on internal movement have also kept people in. Defections to South Korea fell from more than 1,000 in 2019 to just 229 in 2020, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies. That number continued to dwindle in 2021.
Defections from South Korea to North Korea are far rarer, but on New Year's Day a South Korean man did manage to cross into North Korea, Reuters reported. The South Korean military made a call on a special hotline asking that the man not be harmed but cannot confirm whether he is still alive.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
May 30 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Friday's political cartoons include the Gipper's message to Russia, the U.S. Constitution, TACOS ruining Trump's parade, and grift at the White House.
-
'Wonder drug': the potential health benefits of creatine
The Explainer Popular fitness supplement shows promise in easing symptoms of everything from depression to menopause and could even help prevent Alzheimer's
-
What's next for Elon Musk?
Today's Big Question The world's richest man has become 'disillusioned' with politics – but returning to his tech empire presents its own challenges
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs
-
Trump pauses all new foreign student visas
speed read The State Department has stopped scheduling interviews with those seeking student visas in preparation for scrutiny of applicants' social media
-
Trump pardons Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery
speed read Former sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery and fraud charges
-
Germany lifts Kyiv missile limits as Trump, Putin spar
speed read Russia's biggest drone and missile attacks of the war prompted Trump to post that Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!'
-
Tied Supreme Court blocks church charter school
speed read The court upheld the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to bar overtly religious public charter schools
-
GOP megabill would limit judicial oversight of Trump
speed read The domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House would protect the Trump administration from the consequences of violating court orders