In late January, Kim Jong Il held a meeting of his highest officials, including Jang Sung Taek, Director of the Ministry of Administration of the Party, aiming to find ways to alleviate the negative side effects of November's currency redenomination. In the meeting, the group apparently agreed to release emergency supplies of rice to those on the brink of starvation.According to a Daily NK source, "Following the meeting, which he chaired, Kim Jong Il handed down a handwritten decree to the chief secretaries of all provinces on January 20 in which it was stated, 'Preventing anyone from starving to death is your obligation.'"
Chief Secretaries of Provincial Committees of the Party, the recipients of the decree, handed on the threat to their subordinates, warning provincial cadres, "You will resign if anyone starves to death, because this was a direct instruction from the General."
In the decree, the three most vulnerable provinces were named as Yangkang, South Hamkyung, and Kangwon Provinces, so the officials governing those provinces are understandably nervous. They are the provinces where most casualties occurred during the March of Tribulation, and they remain the most food insecure.
Under the decree, the Ministry of Procurement and Food Policy makes daily deliveries of 5kg of relief rice to each people's unit and 5-15kg to each factory and enterprise. Chairpersons of people's units and managers of factories are required to observe the circumstances of the people under their control and provide those in the greatest danger of starvation with relief rice first.