Russia could provide North Korean farmers with agricultural land in the Far East, a local governor told reporters this week, a scheme that one expert said could be a DPRK attempt to improve its food situation and earn cash for the regime.

At an event in Moscow, Primorsky Krai Governor Oleg Kozhemyako said his region bordering the DPRK “is ready to consider the possibility of providing agricultural land to North Korean farmers,” the Russian state-controlled news agency TASS reported on Saturday.

The governor’s press office told NK Newson Wednesday that “the format of cooperation” with North Korean farmers “will