NK Food Shortage

[Anchor Lead]

In our next story, our source in North Korea reveals that even the nation’s capital and center for elites, Pyongyang, is suffering the effects of a nationwide food shortage. Here’s more in a phone call from a Pyongyang resident to a family member in South Korea.

[Pkg]

A man surnamed Kim, who escaped from North Korea about a decade ago, has been getting more frequent phone calls from his family in Pyongyang asking him for help. Food rations, which amounted to 25 days' worth per month, was cut by more than half.

[Soundbite] Kim OO(North Korean Refugee/Voice modified) : "(How is the food ration?)"

[Soundbite] Pyongyang Resident(Voice modified) : "I get five or ten days' worth of food per month. Fifteen days' worth at best."

Whatever ration they're getting is not even rice, but corn, something people can hardly survive on.

[Soundbite] Pyongyang Resident(Voice modified) : "(What do you get, rice or corn?) We get corn most times."

[Soundbite] Pyongyang Resident(Voice modified) : "(You mostly get corn? You can't survive on that.) Don't say that. I'm in a bind as it is."

Pyongyang residents claim the recent flood has worsened economic difficulties.

[Soundbite] Pyongyang Resident(Voice modified) : "(Are you suffering much from the flood?) Yes. (You're having a real hard time, right?) Yes."

Nevertheless, he is extremely reluctant to talk about Kim Jong-un.

[Soundbite] Pyongyang Resident(Voice modified) : "(What do people think about Kim Jong-un now?) Don't talk about that."

Seven-month-old international sanctions have now even hit Pyongyang, where the core elites of the Kim Jong-un regime live.

[Soundbite] Kim OO(North Korean Refugee/Voice modified) : "The recent flood and international sanctions have worsened the economy. Even Pyongyang residents are suffering greatly."

However, the Kim Jong-un regime seems to continue to pour its resources into nuclear and missile development programs, thereby worsening the hardship of North Korean residents.