In a telephone conversation with this reporter, a mid-level managing official of the North's State Safety and Security Agency currently on visit to China said, "In an official document handed down by central authorities to officials in the State Safety and Security Agency and Ministry of Public Security, the families of State Safety and Security Agency in each district were ordered to trade in order to defeat difficulties in obtaining food." The official said North Korean authorities ordered this in accordance with expectations that aid from the international community will decrease as a result of the failure of the second round of six-party talks in Beijing.

He said, "The internal document included reports that our ally Russia suspended grant aid in February, and there's a possibility that China will also suspend grant aid from March... Because of this, North Korean authorities have instructed all local administrative organs and groups to make thorough advanced preparations to overcome temporary difficulties."

A Chinese trader who lives in Dandong, Liaoning Province, China, and does business with North Korea said, "Exports of corn to North Korea have been completely prohibited from February to April... One of the reasons is that last year's corn harvest in China wasn't very good, but I wonder if, in reality, this is part of sanctions against the North." He added that as soon as corn exports were stopped, the demand for flour in the North skyrocketed. China has named food along with crude petroleum to its list of "strategic goods" and tightly controls their export to North Korea.

Kim, a defector who crossed into China some time ago, said, "The difficulties in obtaining food nowadays reminds me of the late 1990s, when the situation was at its worst... In some regions, a single kilo of rice has reached W500 -- the North Korean currency's largest denomination. The value of the dollar has skyrocketed, with US$1 being exchanged for W1,400." Since economic controls were reformed in July 2002, the situation has become such that the common laborer -- who earns an average of W2,000 a month -- cannot afford even four kilos of rice on his salary. North Korean authorities have set the official price of rice at W46 a kilo, and the official dollar-won exchange rate is W160 to US$1.

In the case of North Hamgyeong Province's Musan Mine -- the North's largest supplier of iron ore -- workers are taking all the iron ore they dig out of the ground, selling it in China and buying food in order to avoid difficulties in obtaining provisions. One defector from the area said, "Because of the difficulties in finding food, all the iron ore that was supposed to go to Kim Chaek Steel Mill is being sold in China. Because of this, the cost of food around the Musan Mine is fairly low -- one kilo of polished rice costs W380.

The defector also said that because agents from the State Safety and Security Agency and the police are not getting their rations, official corruption is now a problem. North Korean authorities may be completely opening their marketplaces and permitting trade, he said, but starving police officers are seizing on every little infraction to confiscate property and residents' grievances grow as time passes.

With civilians and even whole battalions of soldiers facing difficulties in obtaining food, one cannot rule out the possibility of a recurrence of mass famine this spring if aid from the international community is late.

(Kang Cheol-hwan, nkch@chosun.com )