N. Korea sets up food ministry

SEOUL, June 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Wednesday it has created the Ministry of Foodstuff and Daily Necessities Industry as the country strives to resolve its food shortage within years.

The Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly issued a decree on setting up the
ministry, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a one-sentence
dispatch. It gave no further details.
In the New Year's editorial published by state media organizations as the
nation's yearly slogan, North Korea vowed to "solve food problems by our own
efforts" and rebuild the country's frail infrastructure by 2012, the centenary of
the birth of Kim Il-sung, who is North Korea's founder and the father of the
current leader, Kim Jong-il. By the target year, North Korea aims to build a
"strong, prosperous and powerful nation."
North Korea is expected to suffer from a food shortage of up to 840,000 tons this
year, according to a South Korean government estimate based on U.N. reports.
North Korea's total grain production is expected to reach around 4.29 million
tons this year, which falls short of the minimum 5.13 million tons needed to feed
its 24 million people, it said.