International and South Korean media in recent weeks have highlighted North Korea’s acute food shortages resulting from a poor fall harvest last year.

As recently as March 15, South Korea’s major daily newspaper the JoongAng Ilbo cited “multiple North Korea sources” who said Kim Jong Un had instructed opening up “Warehouse No. 5,” reportedly a North Korean term for emergency food supplies.

Citing data provided by the North Korean Ministry of Agriculture, a UN report released on March 6 stated that the country’s food production in 2018 dropped by nine percent from the previous year and