North Korean leader Kim Jong Un asked his ruling party to brace for hardship, evoking the name of an infamous 1990s famine that killed at least 225,000 people in the country, state media reported on Friday.

Giving a speech that closed out a conference for thousands of low-level ruling party elite, Kim reportedly told officials on Thursday to “wage another more difficult Arduous March” to help the North Korean people. “Arduous March” is a term that North Korea and the outside world used to describe a deadly famine, and it can also refer to efforts the public must make in order to survive economic hardship.