Townies move to aid farmers

Seoul – North Korea’s white-collar workers have been deployed to farming areas across the country to help fight against drought, state media said, as the impoverished nation struggles to prevent heavy crop damage.

The isolated, nuclear-armed nation – which is under multiple sets of sanctions over its weapons programmes – has long struggled to feed itself and suffers chronic food shortages.

The country is highly vulnerable to natural disasters due to a chronic lack of infrastructure, deforestation and decades of state mismanagement.

The North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported government officials as well as company and factory workers were “actively joining the fight in drought-prone regions”.

“As soon as they arrived at the site, they immediately started watering, working shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers as they waged a fierce battle with nature,” the report added.

It said the efforts were aimed at countering an ongoing dry spell as well as “preventing crop damage from drought in advance”.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for measures to improve the “tense” food situation, caused by the pandemic, typhoons and international sanctions over the country’s weapons programmes.