A growing number of residents of Yanggang Province – North Korea’s chief potato-growing region – are roaming around cities to collect potato peels, Daily NK has learned. A source told Daily NK people suffering from food shortages are collecting the potato peels to “make up for their winter food shortfalls” after this year’s poor potato harvest.
“With potatoes, you can make several kinds of dishes from even if they are frozen or rotten. Potato peels, once washed and dried, can be turned into flour to make noodles or jelly [muk],” said the source.
In Yanggang Province, people have traditionally turned potato peels into feed for animals such as dogs and pigs. This year, however, people are gradually turning to potato peels for human consumption, providing an indication of just how severe North Korea’s food shortages are, the source explained.
In fact, the source said one resident on the outskirts of Hyesan city told him: “I have never been so poor, no matter how difficult things were in the past. I already feel like current conditions will soon starve my family to death, and with winter now here, I can’t sleep at night. I’m going around the homes of people I know downtown gathering up anything edible as soon as they appear, including potato peels and dried radish leaves, since at least we won’t starve to death if something goes in our bellies, no matter what it is.”
Source: Daily NK. Read the full story here
Photo: Taken in August 2018, this photo shows a part of Hyesan, a city in Yanggang Province. Credit Daily NK
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