Russian envoy says ‘there is no famine’ in North Korea

Ambassador’s comments come days after Kim Jong Un said North Korea was facing its ‘worst-ever situation’.

The Russian ambassador in Pyongyang has described life as difficult in North Korea because of a halt in foreign trade amid international sanctions and coronavirus-linked border closures, but said there was no famine in the isolated and impoverished country. Alexander Matsegora’s comments, published by Russia’s TASS news agency on Wednesday, came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared that his country was facing its “worst-ever situation”. Kim also urged ruling party officials to wage another “Arduous March” of work and sacrifice, linking the current economic crises to a period in the 1990s of famine and disaster.