| Blood from a stone. Gads. |
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has again begun to collect foodstuffs from its residents for military use, as food shortages for its 1.2 million troops have been getting increasingly worse, the Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Wednesday, citing sources in the communist state.
It is the third time in history that the regime in Pyongyang is known to have requisitioned foodstuffs from the people to feed its military, the broadcaster said, noting the previous two occurred in the mid-to-late 1990s, when millions starved to death, and in July 2002, when an emergency economic management measure was enforced.
"On Jan. 10, the Workers' Party has sent out a written order to plants, companies and labor groups, urging them to donate foodstuffs to the military from Jan. 12," the RFA said, citing the sources.
"In the order, the party stressed that soldiers standing guard over the border are surviving on canned cornmeal porridge and threatened to assess the amount of donations by individual entity," the RFA said, adding the North failed to attain its goal of securing 1.6 million tons in provisions for the military last year. |