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Potatoes are cited as one of the top four major crops in the world, along with rice, wheat and corn. The root vegetable appears in a film The Martian. The science fiction movie revolves around an astronaut who becomes stranded on Mars and struggles to stay alive on the barren planet, where not even a blade of grass grows. 

Some scenes of the film show the man growing potatoes on Mars. As a powerful food staple, potatoes are well known as famine relief food when people suffer from poor harvest. In North Korea, potatoes make up a significant portion in agriculture. 

Today, we’ll learn about potato farming in North Korea from Cho Chung-hee, a specialist in agriculture and livestock and the director of a non-governmental organization called Good Farmers. 

In this summer month of June, the weather is getting hotter and hotter. Some vegetables grow well in full sun. Potatoes, in particular, are in season in June. Potatoes in season are delicious and nutritious, too. This past spring, North Korea moved up the dates for potato farming. 

In North Korea, the weather was dry in spring last year and this year as well. According to sources in the U.S., there was little rain in North Korea, except for Hwanghae Province. In general, potatoes are planted about five centimeters below the surface of the soil. In the dry season, they should be planted one or two centimeters deeper to withstand drought. But last year, North Korea planted crops roughly, not really expecting a drought. As a result, the crops were damaged by drought. 

Once potatoes are planted deeper, it takes longer for the plants to emerge. So this year, the North decided to advance the potato planting schedule. More than just moving up the dates for planting potatoes, the country also encouraged farmers to prepare well for the work in advance, such as how many potato plants should be planted and what method should be used for the process. 

In North Korea, the ideal time for potato planting differs slightly, depending on the region. Potatoes are usually planted between late March and early April in the central provinces of Hwanghae and South Pyongan, while the planting season is from mid-April to late April in the northern provinces of Ryanggang, Jagang and North Hamgyong. 

This year, spring drought in North Korea was more severe than last year’s. North Korea plants major field crops, including potatoes, in April. So drought at this time could be fatal. In preparation for a serious drought, North Korea planted potatoes earlier than usual and urged local farmers to waste no time harvesting them. 

In potato farming, the most important part is to harvest them at just the right time. 

North Korea has gone all-out to harvest potatoes. This reminds many people of the potato-growing campaign called “potato farming revolution” that the country pushed for decades ago. 

The economic crisis and a food shortage in the 1990s caused a large number of North Koreans to starve to death. The country had a hard time coping with the crisis through rice and corn farming alone. 

Potatoes are very high-yielding. In mountainous regions in northern Ryanggang Province, corn production per unit area was five tons at most, while potatoes, 20 to 30 tons. Therefore, the “potato farming revolution” played a great role in overcoming the difficulties at the time. 

North Korea initiated the “potato farming revolution” in the late 1990s in order to overcome the painful period of the “Arduous March.” 

We’ve gone through several harsh marches during the period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, but the Arduous March was by far the toughest, in terms of period and difficulty. 

North Korea used the phrase, “Arduous March,’ as a slogan to encourage the people to tackle the extreme economic difficulties in the 1990s. The slogan has represented the country’s biggest crisis ever. 

North Korea had experienced a food shortage already in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the country’s annual food production sharply fell below four million tons, due to its declining trade with socialist states, natural disasters and economic difficulties. 

As the food crisis caused countless people to die of hunger, former leader Kim Jong-il stressed the need to improve the agricultural structure to solve the food problem. That is, he suggested the “potato farming revolution” that calls for potatoes to be included in the list of food staples, along with corn and rice. 

It is impossible to grow sweet potatoes in the cold northern regions of North Korea. It is little wonder that sweet potatoes are not appropriate for revolution in agriculture. Potatoes, on the other hand, can be grown all across the country. For frozen potatoes, in particular, double cropping is practiced. Frozen potatoes refer to potatoes that are harvested and frozen in spring and processed later. If potatoes are planted in late March, they can be harvested in mid-June. So, the crop gets local farmers through lean times. After farmers harvest potatoes, they can plant corn or rice in the same field. For efficiency and productivity, potatoes were chosen for agricultural revolution. 

Potatoes are easily grown anywhere and they can be harvested in large quantities in a short period of time. To solve the food problem, it could be efficient to grow potatoes in North Korea, since much of the country is mountainous and only about 17 percent of its land is actually arable. In 1998, then-leader Kim Jong-il instructed officials to expand the cultivation of potatoes and increase their production, saying that potatoes are equivalent to white rice. That’s the beginning of the potato revolution in North Korea. The center of the potato-growing campaign was Taehongdan County in Ryanggang Province. 

Taehongdan County is located near Mt. Baekdu. In the cold and windy area in the Kaema(개마) Plateau, it is hard to grow rice or corn. Only potatoes are planted in the vast and flat area, with nearly 80 percent of the area taken up by potato farming. It is easy to understand why Ryanggang is called the potato province. 

Many say that highland vegetables are delicious. The same is true of potatoes. Plants and crops tend to be more productive and stronger in harsh environments. Potatoes produced in Ryanggyang Province are completely different from those in other regions. They are ripe, rich in starch and full of flavor. When boiled, their chewy, starchy texture strengthens. No wonder they taste delicious. 

In the past, North Korea planted corn in all regions uniformly, not considering soil and climate conditions. But it is hard to produce a large amount of corn in alpine regions.

To resolve the food problem, North Korea relocated croplands to optimal locations in consideration of geographical characteristics. It used Taehongdan as the center of the potato revolution, as the county is located in the Kaema Plateau at high altitude and belongs to the area of microthermal climate.

Having designated Ryanggang as the “potato province,” North Korea dispatched scientists and engineers to the province to let them research potatoes. To push for potato farming in earnest, the North also deployed one-thousand discharged soldiers in Taehongdan and had them settle in the county. 

Former leader Kim Jong-il sent demobilized soldiers to the Taehongdan farm to promote potato farming. Girls were also sent there from across the country, and they married the soldiers. The state provided the married couples with housing. One couple gave birth to boy-girl twins. For the couple wondering how to name the babies, the leader said, “Don’t overthink it. They were born in Taehongdan, so name the boy Taehong and the girl, Hongdan.” This is the story about the twins, Taehong and Hongdan. 

In this way, Taehongdan became the center of potato production in North Korea. The sweet, large potatoes from Taehongdan are so famous that they even inspired a children’s song. 

Ryanggang Province accounts for 57 percent of the total area of potato cultivation in North Korea. The country created a political slogan called “Taehongdan spirit,” which indicates farmers’ exertion and perseverance that contributed to greater potato productivity. The New Year’s joint editorial in 2001 highlighted the spirit, which has been used to refer to self-reliance and great effort to resolve everything needed for farming on its own. 

Potatoes have emerged as an important food ingredient in North Korea. Locally-produced potatoes are kept fresh and longer through secondary processing. Potato powder produced at the factories in Samjiyon and Taehongdan are developed into processed food. North Korea’s state TV explains recipes using potato powder. 

Now, let’s learn how to make pancakes using potato powder and nut powder, potato powder porridge and wontons made of potato powder coated with breadcrumbs for frying. 

There are various kinds of potato dishes in North Korea. A book titled Potato Food published in 1991 introduces some 80 different kinds of potato dishes, including noodles made with frozen potatoes, potato pancakes, hand-torn noodle potato soup and potato-based crispy snacks and taffy. Potato powder is also used for yeast bread and Korean corn dogs, which are usually made of flour. 

Our enterprise hosts a culinary show once a week. Our chefs unveil their own food made of potato powder and serve all sorts of delicacies on the table. 

Diverse potato foods appear in national cooking contests. North Korea is also active in explaining health and nutrition benefits of potatoes. 

Potato powder contains starch and it is packed with different nutrients including protein and vitamins. It is a great food source that contributes to longevity. 

As of late, North Korea praises potatoes as health food. The noticeable promotion of potatoes could mean that the country’s food situation has worsened. 

North Korea has a hard time in importing food and farm materials such as fertilizer and pesticides from China and other countries, due to COVID-19-related lockdown measures. Also, the country has been subject to prolonged international sanctions. North Korea had a poor harvest last year, so it seems the country is in a pretty difficult situation now. North Korea has emphasized potato farming again, in an apparent move to resolve the current food shortage problem. 

People starved to death in some North Korean regions, due to the drawn-out border shutdowns triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the food situation aggravating, North Korea has cited greater food production as one of its economic tasks this year. In difficult times, potatoes fully performed their duty as a problem solver. This time, too, they are emerging as a key reliever for the country facing a serious food problem.