Kim Says N. Korea Must Meet Grain Production Goals 'Without Fail'

(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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Kim Says N. Korea Must Meet Grain Production Goals 'Without Fail'

(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 urged government officials to make sure the country meets its grain production goals "without fail", state media said Thursday, amid reports Pyongyang's food shortage is worsening.

The isolated, nuclear-armed nation -- which is under multiple sets of sanctions over its weapons programs -- has long struggled to feed itself, AFP said.+

North Korea has also been under a rigid self-imposed coronavirus blockade since early 2020 to protect itself from the Covid-19 pandemic, only resuming some trade with China last year.

Kim "ardently called for attaining this year's grain production goal without fail", on Wednesday, the last day of a key meeting by the ruling party, the country's official Korean Central News Agency reported.

"In order to increase the nationwide agricultural output, attention should be paid to overcoming the lopsidedness in the guidance on farming ... and it is important to concentrate on increasing the per-hectare yield at all the farms," the report added.

The latest report comes after Kim on Monday called for a "fundamental transformation" in the country's agricultural production, and South Korea's unification ministry said last month there had been reports of starvation deaths in the North.

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

The impoverished North has long been criticized for prioritizing its military and banned nuclear weapons programs over adequately providing for its people.

In 2021, Kim made rare references to the hardship, saying the food situation in the North was getting "tense" and warning the people to prepare for the "worst-ever situation".

In the same year, Pyongyang's state-run KCTV admitted the country was facing a "food crisis".

Kim also focused on food security and development in his agenda-setting speech for 2022.

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.

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



Danish General Says He Is Not Losing Sleep over US Plans for Greenland

FILE - A view of a Greenland flag in the village of Igaliku in Greenland, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/ Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - A view of a Greenland flag in the village of Igaliku in Greenland, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/ Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
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Danish General Says He Is Not Losing Sleep over US Plans for Greenland

FILE - A view of a Greenland flag in the village of Igaliku in Greenland, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/ Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - A view of a Greenland flag in the village of Igaliku in Greenland, Friday, July 5, 2024. (Ida Marie Odgaard/ Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

The head of Denmark's Arctic command said the prospect of a US takeover of Greenland was not keeping him up at night after talks with a senior US general last week but that more must be done to deter any Russian attack on the Arctic island.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested the United States might acquire Greenland, a vast semi-autonomous Danish territory on the shortest route between North America and Europe vital for the US ballistic missile warning system.

Trump has not ruled out taking the territory by force and, at a congressional hearing this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not deny that such contingency plans exist.

Such a scenario "is absolutely not on my mind," Soren Andersen, head of Denmark's Joint Arctic Command, told Reuters in an interview, days after what he said was his first meeting with the general overseeing US defense of the area.

"I sleep perfectly well at night," Anderson said. "Militarily, we work together, as we always have."

US General Gregory Guillot visited the US Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on June 19-20 for the first time since the US moved Greenland oversight to the Northern command from its European command, the Northern Command said on Tuesday.

Andersen's interview with Reuters on Wednesday were his first detailed comments to media since his talks with Guillot, which coincided with Danish military exercises on Greenland involving one of its largest military presences since the Cold War.

Russian and Chinese state vessels have appeared unexpectedly around Greenland in the past and the Trump administration has accused Denmark of failing to keep it safe from potential incursions. Both countries have denied any such plans.

Andersen said the threat level to Greenland had not increased this year. "We don't see Russian or Chinese state ships up here," he said.

DOG SLED PATROLS

Denmark's permanent presence consists of four ageing inspection vessels, a small surveillance plane, and dog sled patrols tasked with monitoring an area four times the size of France.

Previously focused on demonstrating its presence and civilian tasks like search and rescue, and fishing inspection, the Joint Arctic Command is now shifting more towards territorial defense, Andersen said.

"In reality, Greenland is not that difficult to defend," he said. "Relatively few points need defending, and of course, we have a plan for that. NATO has a plan for that."

As part of the military exercises this month, Denmark has deployed a frigate, F-16s, special forces and extra troops, and increased surveillance around critical infrastructure. They would leave next week when the exercises end, Andersen said, adding that he would like to repeat them in the coming months.

"To keep this area conflict-free, we have to do more, we need to have a credible deterrent," he said. "If Russia starts to change its behavior around Greenland, I have to be able to act on it."

In January, Denmark pledged over $2 billion to strengthen its Arctic defense, including new Arctic navy vessels, long-range drones, and satellite coverage. France offered to deploy troops to Greenland and EU's top military official said it made sense to station troops from EU countries there.

Around 20,000 people live in the capital Nuuk, with the rest of Greenland's 57,000 population spread across 71 towns, mostly on the west coast. The lack of infrastructure elsewhere is a deterrent in itself, Andersen said.

"If, for example, there were to be a Russian naval landing on the east coast, I think it wouldn't be long before such a military operation would turn into a rescue mission," he said.