By John Ruwitch and Lindsay Beck

BEIJING, May 31 (Reuters) - Grappling with severe shortages of food and
fuel, North Korea is sending millions of city dwellers into the
countryside to work on farms as it girds for the worst, aid workers and
other sources say.

By John Ruwitch and Lindsay Beck

BEIJING, May 31 (Reuters) - Grappling with severe shortages of food and
fuel, North Korea is sending millions of city dwellers into the
countryside to work on farms as it girds for the worst, aid workers and
other sources say.

The Communist government has told its people to prepare for conditions
as harsh as those of the mid-1990s, when famine is believed to have
killed more than one million people, said a businessman in China who
travels to North Korea frequently.

Richard Ragan, director of the U.N. World Food Programme's operations
in North Korea, said: "There has been a national mobilisation and
people from all walks and stripes of life have been asked to go help
farmers transplant rice, even people in non-agricultural jobs."

"Even ministry of foreign affairs officials who work with the U.N. WFP
have been asked to go help farmers on the weekends."

Mass mobilisation for public works projects is common in the tightly
controlled state, and aid workers and frequent visitors say helping
farmers has become an annual event.

"For the people here, everything is done en masse," one aid worker said
by telephone from Pyongyang.

"It's nothing different this year than other years, I don't think. They
are limited by the amount of agricultural land they've got ... You
don't need more and more people every year because the land area is
finite."

But the businessman who travels to North Korea regularly said this
appeared to be the biggest mobilisation of its kind in years and added
that it was mostly due to a fuel shortage forcing the agriculture
sector to become less mechanised.

He said North Koreans had told him they were "preparing for the worst,
for another Arduous March". North Koreans call the famine period of the
1990s the Arduous March.

"Basically, Pyongyang is fairly empty at the moment. Most people have
been taken out of their jobs," he said, adding that those left were
working double shifts.

About 60 percent of North Korea's 22.5 million people live in urban
areas.

MISGUIDED POLICIES

Misguided North Korean economic policies, the collapse of its Communist
benefactors in Eastern Europe and successive natural disasters in the
1990s led to widespread famine. The food situation has remained dire.

The World Food Programme, the biggest aid agency in North Korea, said
there was a food crisis in the country and that its stocks were drying
up because it had not received a major pledge of aid since late last
year.

But WFP has said this was not related to the North's refusal to
participate in six-party talks on its nuclear programmes.

The WFP said it couldn't quite explain the rationale for the mass
mobilisation, given the finite amount of land available for cultivation
in North Korea.

But it speculated that since the regime has made increasing food
production a national priority, it was part of efforts to try to boost
food supplies.

"It may not just be a question of providing additional labour, it could
be beyond that," said Gerald Bourke of the WFP.

South Korea's central bank said on Tuesday that the North's economy
grew for a sixth consecutive year in 2004 by 2.2 percent from 1.8
percent the year before.

But the numbers masked North Korea's systemic poverty and a continued
inability to feed its people on its own.

The businessman pointed out that rice planting aside, many other parts
of the agricultural process would sometimes be mechanised, for example
building dykes and irrigating paddies -- work that relies on manual
labour in the absence of fuel for machinery.

Either way, every little bit of help was seen as crucial.

The North Korean public distribution system, which was the main source
of food for the country's city dwellers, is only able to give an
average 250 gms, or roughly one cup, of rice, maize and sometimes
potatoes to each person, the WFP said.

Kathi Zellweger of the aid agency Caritas said North Korea, known
officially as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), was
heading for a difficult time.

"This year's agricultural season is very likely not going to be very
successful because of the climate. There is a very short planting
season in the DPRK and I'm told we are behind by about two to three
weeks, and that will have an impact on this year's harvest," she said.


*LOOK* "AND" *SEE* "THAT" *YE* "BE" *NOT* "DECEIVED" *BY* "THIS"
*REPORT*!!! "THE" *PEOPLE* "ARE" *LEAVING* "THESE" *CITIES* "IN"
*PREPERATION* "FOR" *THE* "COMING" *ATTACK* "BY" *THE* "OPPOSIING"
*FORCES* "THAT" *HAVE* "BEEN" *BUILT* "UP" *AGAINST* "THIS"
*COUNTRY*!!!

*HONESTLY*, "THESE" *PEOPLE* "KNOW" *THEIR* "FARMING" *SEASON* "FOR"
*PLANTING* "STARTED" *3 WEEKS* "AGO" *AND* "THEY" *ARE* "NOT" *GOING*
"TO" *THINK* "THAT" *THEY* "MUST" *PLANT* "A" *BUNCH* "NOW" *THAT" *IT*
"IS" *ALMOST* "SUMMER" *OVER* "THERE"!!!

"THERE" *IS* "DEFINATELY" *SOMETHING* "BREWING" *HERE* "AND" *I* "WANT"
*TO* "KEEP" *ALL* "INFORMED" *OF* "THE" *COMING* "ESCALATION" *OF*
"WAR" *BETWEEN* "SEVERAL" *NATIONS* "OF" *THE* "EARTH"!!!

*WHEN* "THEY" *GO* "TRIFLING" *WITH* "GOD" *AND* "HIS" *PEOPLE* "FOLKS"
*I* "TELL" *ALL* "THIS" *SIMPLE* "FACT"... *GOD* "WILL" *REQUIRE*
"PAYMENT" *FOR* "JUSTICE" *AND* "THAT" *MEANS* "YOUR" *ONE* "AND"
*ONLY* "LIFE" *WILL* "BE" *THE* "PAYMENT" *THAT* "JUSTICE"
*REQUIRES*!!!

*WOE* "IS" *AN* "UNDERSTATEMENT" *COMPARED* "TO" *JUSTICE* "FOLKS"
*AND* "I" *CANNOT* "EMPHASIZE" *THAT* "STATEMENT" *ENOUGH* "FOR" *YOU*
"AS" *I* "AM" *FULLY* "AWARE" *THAT* "SOULS" *WHO* "CAUSE" *THESE*
"THINGS" *TO* "HAPPEN" *IN* "THE" *CREATION* "OF" *GOD* "WILL"
*NOLONGER* "BE" *PART* "OF" *OUR* "LIVES"!!!

*WHEN* "HIS" *ELECT* "SAYS" *HE* "IS" *HERE* "GATHERING" *THE* "FACTS"
*ABOUT* "THIS" *SITUATON* "YOU" *CAN* "BE" *SURE* "THAT" *EVERY*
"SINGLE" *SOUL* "THAT" *CAUSES* "THIS" *DESTRUCTION* "WILL" *BE*
"GOING" *TO* "TRIAL" *AS* "I" *AM* "SINCERELY" *GOING* "TO" *CALL*
"THEM" *UP* "TO" *GIVE* "ACCOUNTING" *TO* "JUSTICE"!!!

*YOU* "HAVE" *MY* "WORD" *ON* "IT"...

*HIS* "ELECT" *DOES* "NOT" *TOLERATE* "THESE" *OUTRAGEOUS* "ACTS"!!!

P.S. "NOBODY" *IN* "ALL" *CREATION* "CAN" *TELL* "HIS" *ELECT* "THAT"
*I* "HAVE" *TO* "ACCEPT" *THESE* "OUTRAGEOUS" *ACTS* "AS" *I* "HAVE"
*THE* "AUTHORITY" *TO* "BRING" *THEM* "TO" *JUSTICE* "AND" *TO*
"JUSTICE" *THEY* "WILL" *GO*!!!

P.S.S. *FOR* "THE" *SAKE* "OF" *ALL* "OTHERS" *HIS* "ELECT" *HAS*
"FOREWARNED" *THE* "PEOPLE" *INHABITING* "THE" *EARTH*...
*JUSTICE* "WILL" *BE* "SERVED" *AND* "LIVES" *WILL* "BE" *LOST*!!!