North Korean Farmers Are Denied Surplus Harvest Again This Year

Despite increases this year in agricultural production, authorities in North Korea’s northern provinces are once again refusing to distribute promised surplus grain to area farmers, demanding also that potatoes harvested beyond state requirements be used to produce food starch, North Korean sources say. Under a policy intended to spur production, farmers are allowed in theory to keep 30 percent of their work unit’s production, with the government taking the rest. Farmers are also supposedly allowed to keep any surplus grain if they exceed their production targets.More