North Korea's Kim Opens Key Meeting on Agriculture

(FILES) This undated file picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 7, 2021 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending the eighth conference of military educationists of the Korean People’s Army at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
(FILES) This undated file picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 7, 2021 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending the eighth conference of military educationists of the Korean People’s Army at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
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North Korea's Kim Opens Key Meeting on Agriculture

(FILES) This undated file picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 7, 2021 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending the eighth conference of military educationists of the Korean People’s Army at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
(FILES) This undated file picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 7, 2021 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending the eighth conference of military educationists of the Korean People’s Army at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has opened a key party meeting to discuss agricultural development, state media said Monday, following a report of "grave" food shortages in the isolated country.

Normally such meetings are convened only once or twice a year, but the plenary comes just two months after a previous one, which also focused on agricultural issues, AFP said.

The unusual frequency of the meetings focused on agriculture has fueled speculation that there may be serious food shortages in North Korea now.

Kim chaired the opening on Sunday of a plenary meeting of top ruling party officials to "analyze and review... the program for the rural revolution in the new era, and decide on the immediate important tasks and the urgent tasks," the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The participants "unanimously approved the agenda items and went into discussion" on the topic, the KCNA said without giving further details.

South Korea's unification ministry says there have been reports of starvation deaths in the North.

"We judge the food shortages there to be grave," ministry spokesman Koo Byoung-sam said last week, adding Pyongyang appeared to have requested food aid from the World Food Program.

North Korea monitoring site 38 North said it judged the current food shortages in the country to be the worst in decades.

The Pyongyang regime was being forced to deal with "a complex humanitarian emergency that has food insecurity at its core", it said in a January 2023 assessment.

An analysis of rice and corn prices globally and in North Korea show "significant" price divergence since early 2021 -- meaning food is far more expensive in the North -- "signaling a breakdown" in supply, it added.

- Official denial -
But a recent commentary carried by North Korea's main state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun said the country should continue to stick to the "self-sufficient economy" as part of its fight against "the imperialists".

"The imperialists, under the cloak of the so-called 'collaboration' and 'aid', are clamoring as if some countries in economic difficulties could not tide over crises without their support."

But such support are efforts to "make the countries their sources of raw materials and market after completely demolishing the barrier of their national economy", Rodong said.

Nuclear-armed North Korea, which is under multiple sets of sanctions over its weapons programs, has long struggled to feed itself.

It is highly vulnerable to natural disasters including floods and drought due to a chronic lack of infrastructure, deforestation and decades of state mismanagement.

This has been compounded by a years-long self-imposed border closure since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which has only recently been eased to allow some trade with neighboring China.

The country has periodically been hit by famines, one of which in the 1990s killed hundreds of thousands of people -- some estimates range into millions.



After Harris’ Loss, Angry Democrats Blame Her Boss, Biden

A hand fan depicting US Vice President Kamala Harris lays on a sidewalk in Washington, DC, on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
A hand fan depicting US Vice President Kamala Harris lays on a sidewalk in Washington, DC, on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
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After Harris’ Loss, Angry Democrats Blame Her Boss, Biden

A hand fan depicting US Vice President Kamala Harris lays on a sidewalk in Washington, DC, on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
A hand fan depicting US Vice President Kamala Harris lays on a sidewalk in Washington, DC, on November 6, 2024. (AFP)

Anger and soul-searching took hold of the Democratic Party early on Wednesday morning, after Vice President Kamala Harris suffered an election loss that left some party officials and voters dumbfounded.

Harris was the self-styled underdog against her Republican rival, Donald Trump, having joined the race barely three months ago, but the nature of her loss has some Democrats asking questions about the future of the party.

The sharpest criticism contained accusations that the party had lied to its supporters about President Joe Biden's mental fitness until a disastrous TV debate with Trump in June raised alarm bells and ultimately led to the president exiting the race.

One Democratic donor asked: "Why did Joe Biden hold on for as long as he did? He should have not concealed his (health) and dropped out a lot sooner."

Biden, 81, has said privately he thought he was the only Democrat who could beat Trump, and vowed publicly that he was fit to be president for another four years. When he dropped out of the race in July, he said he had decided it was "in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down."

Biden's announcement in April 2023 that he would run for reelection was greeted with skepticism by many Democrats, but likely potential challengers quickly agreed to join his campaign as advisers, rather than challenge him.

The party "needs a complete reboot," said hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a longtime Democratic donor who endorsed Trump in 2024, on X. "The party lied to the American people about the cognitive health and fitness of the president," he said, and then didn't hold a primary to replace him.

The Harris campaign declined comment and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WOMEN AND YOUNG VOTERS

The concerns ran deeper, though.

Two groups Harris was counting on to beat Trump -- increasingly diverse young voters, believed to be motivated by climate change, liberal values and her social media savvy, and women worried about shrinking abortion rights under a Republican -- moved in his direction instead.

Trump's overall share of voters under 45 was up two percentage points from 2020 as was his share of women voters, Edison Research exit poll data show. Trump also increased his support in many suburban areas, where Democrats thought they had made inroads.

The shift came even as the Harris campaign insisted that the race was close, and that she was picking up new voters.

One Democratic National Committee official said he was fielding angry text messages from party members late on Tuesday night. "They feel lied to by the campaign," the official said.

Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric also appeared to strike a chord with voters even in Democratic heartlands like Connecticut and Massachusetts, mirroring a trend seen in many liberal democracies where high housing and other costs have been blamed on newcomers.

Canada's Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for example, cut immigration levels under criticism from the right, and Europe's far-right parties have vowed to toughen immigration rules, while peeling away votes from the center left.

Harris' defeat is the Democrats' second bitter loss to Trump over the past three elections. Hillary Clinton's 2016 defeat had paved the way for Biden to run.

A convicted felon, Trump's unorthodox economic proposals, including blanket tariffs on imports, will be costly for US consumers and businesses, economists say. His plans to deport millions of people who are in the country illegally would upend industries and communities.

Still Trump gained with Latino voters, and had easy wins in Georgia and North Carolina, states where Democrats thought they were competitive. Harris' whirlwind campaign, built around an inclusive vision of the United States and stronger fiscal support for families, had emphasized hope and positivity.

Biden and Harris' support of Israel during its assault on Gaza split the Democratic Party, with many progressive Democrats calling unsuccessfully for the US to curb its military aid to Israel. That cost votes among left-leaning Democrats.

Harris remained at her residence in Washington the entire evening while crowds waited outside her alma mater Howard University, where the campaign had set up a stage and a media center, anticipating days of vote-counting before a result.

As the results started to trickle in, her campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond took the stage to tell the dwindling crowds the race wasn't over yet. Hours later, it was.