The latest from the Daily NK:
Children have been collapsing from malnutrition even in Rason, a North Korean city that was regarded as being in decent economic shape despite the prolonged closure of the country’s borders during the pandemic. Following reports of the collapses, Rason’s party committee has decided to provide children with two pieces of bread each day.
“Rason’s party committee passed a measure under which all children between the ages of three and six will be provided with two pieces of bread each day,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Wednesday.
According to the source, a crucial factor behind this decision was reports from lower level officials that an increasing number of children are severely malnourished.
As a special economic district on the border with China, Rason has long been home to brisk trade that has given it an economic advantage over other regions. However, this decision shows that the party committee recognizes that conditions in Rason have deteriorated during the border closure, which has now lasted for more than two years....
Low-level officials are frustrated about the impossibility of achieving results under such challenging economic conditions, the source said, adding that they are also flummoxed about how to feed children when so many elderly people are starving as well.
The border closure was in response to Covid, as North Korea attempted to seal itself off from the outside world and those nasty foreign diseases. Which didn't work out too well...
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