Radio Free Asia is reporting that North Korean soldiers have been abandoning their posts in Gangwon Province near the inter-Korean border due to a lack of food.

The U.S.-funded broadcaster was quoting a North Korean source in the North Korea-China border area.

The source added that the soldiers have even gone so far as to rob North Korean civilians of food.

A source in North Pyeongan Province in North Korea said that the military is on alert due to a lack of food that has resulted from Pyongyang’s move to slash last year’s rice quota for military provisions. Pyongyang’s move was meant to ease the burden on farmers hit by floods.