North Korea has warned its citizens that they must expect to eat less food until the country re-opens its border with China in 2025.

Its leader, Kim Jong Un, known for strict and peculiar antics for the country gave the directive, which is already seen as far from normal.

Although food shortages are already affecting North Koreans, the country’s leader told its citizens to tighten their belts for at least another three years.

According to reports, citizens of the Asian country have already complained that shortages would make it difficult to see themselves through the winter, let alone multiple years.

The country had closed its border with China in January 2020 as a precautionary measure against the spread of coronavirus.

However, the action is having a serious impact on the nation’s economy – with prices of everyday goods rising sharply as demand outstripped supply.

But despite the current hardships the North Korean people are facing, their leader Kim has continued to push the idea of self-reliance since this year.

Authorities in the country had blamed external factors for their food shortages, citing sanctions imposed on them, natural disasters, and the global coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, reports have it that residents of the city of Sinuiju, said they have been warned that the chances of reopening the border with China before 2025 were slim.

‘The food situation right now is already clearly an emergency, and the people are struggling with shortages. When the authorities tell them that they need to conserve and consume less food until 2025… they can do nothing but feel great despair,” a report by Daily Mail quoted them to have said.

This message was further encouraged in July when the Central Committee instructed the public to begin growing their crops in anticipation of shortages.

However, with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimating that North Korea is short around 860,000 tons of food this year, the Sinuiju residents said contempt is growing among the people.

The continued sanctions and blockade on the DPRK, severe natural disasters that hit the country every year and the protracted world health crisis since 2020 are main obstacles to the Government’s efforts to achieve the sustainable development of the country and improve the people’s livelihood,” an FAO report read.

Last year, North Korea suffered severe flooding which damaged vital crops and left hundreds of families without homes. This year, crops were also damaged by droughts and subsequent flooding.

In August, heavy rains in northeastern North Korea destroyed or flooded 1,170 houses and forced 5,000 residents to evacuate to safety, North Korea’s state TV reported.

The downpour in South Hamgyong Province washed away hundreds of hectares of farmlands and destroyed many bridges. Footage showed houses submerged up to their red-brick roofs, a severed bridge over muddy water, and a swollen river.