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               Reports: North Korea Warns of New 'Arduous March'

   by VOA News

   North Korea is warning its citizens to prepare for possible food
   shortages as a new round of international sanctions begin to take
   effect.

   According to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper, an editorial
   published Monday in the North's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspapers says
   North Koreans "may have to go on a long and arduous march, during which
   we will have to chew the roots of plants once again."

   The term "arduous march" was used by the authoritarian regime to
   describe a famine that killed millions of people in the 1990s.

   Chosun Ilbo says it has learned the regime has collected one kilogram
   of grain from every citizen in the capital of Pyongyang every month,
   while farmers are being forced to hand over extra food donations to the
   military.

   North Korea needs 440,000 tons of food from overseas donations this
   year, but has received just 17,600 tons by February.

   The United Nations recently imposed a new, tougher set of economic
   sanctions on North Korea over a nuclear test conducted in early
   January, followed by a long-range rocket launch in February.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/reports-north-korea-warns-of-new-ardu
   ous-march/3259176.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/reports-north-korea-warns-of-new-arduous-march/3259176.html