While North Korean diets have historically been plant-heavy, there have been efforts to increase the availability of protein sources, especially since 2005. Despite these efforts, structural and practical limitations prevent major protein farming expansion, including the competition for food stocks, resources and land allocations, much less the ability to acquire seed animals and raise them.

Moreover, while the number of farms has been growing, giving a sense of an increasing capacity to produce protein domestically, the actual performance of these operations is unclear from satellite imagery. While new farms and buildings can be observed, especially at the exemplar farms, efforts to modernize or expand older farms are not as apparent, raising questions about the sustainability of these efforts in the long term.

Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) shows building expansion at several showcase and exemplar facilities and farms, but judging the level of stock or output is difficult from satellite imagery alone. However, expansion and construction activity does provide data points on broad trends and intended goals.

Trying to assess the food situation in North Korea is a perennial discourse, with chronic shortages reported each year. In normal years, humanitarian aid and the import of foodstuffs help supplement domestic production, making shortages less pronounced, especially for those who have access to markets and income to spend. Moreover, imports of agricultural products such as seeds and fertilizers help increase the resiliency of domestic farming against increasingly unpredictable and sometimes extreme weather conditions. However, since the country’s self-imposed pandemic isolation, domestic food production has become more important. The lack of major imports and assistance since 2020 has raised serious concerns over food security in North Korea and the potential for a humanitarian crisis.

While cereals and grains are a major focus of food assessments in North Korea, protein sources are an equally important part of the equation. Prior to 2000, except for North Korea’s elites, the country subsisted principally on vegetarian diets. To have meat as few as two to three times a year was the apparent norm. Under Kim Jong Il, that began to change as efforts to expand the availability of animal protein to more of the population began around 2005. Under Kim Jong Un, there has been an even greater emphasis on animal husbandry, including poultry, pig, rabbit and larger grazing animals such as sheep, goats and cattle.

Of the domestic farms, pigs, poultry (primarily chickens) and rabbits appear to lead the way in production, but more recently, the numbers of sheep, goats and cattle farms have increased. The former group requires less space to house and raise, but those animals also compete for many of the same food stocks (primarily grains) that humans consume.

Read the full article on Tearline.