Kim Jong-un has told North Koreans they need to tighten their belts and eat less for the next few years despite food shortages already being an “emergency”, writes mirror.co.uk.

North Korean officials have said that people have to accept the shortages until the country reopens its borders with China in 2025, it was reported.

People are already worried about how they are going to manage through the winter because of the lack of food and there are reports people are starving to death.

The secretive state that is largely cut off from the rest of the world, closed its border with China at the start of 2020 due to Covid with particular fear in North Korea what damage the virus could do with its limited health system.

Closing the border with a main trading partner has been a serious blow to the economy leading to shortages and price rises.