Asahi Shimbun | 1 March 2013

By DAISUKE NISHIMURA/ Correspondent

KHABAROVSK--North Korea will dispatch dozens of laborers this spring to grow corn, beans and vegetables on 1,000 hectares of farmland in the Russian Far East, local government sources said Feb. 28.

They said the North Koreans will grow crops including soybeans, buckwheat, wheat and potatoes under a joint venture with the local administration.

The government of Amur oblast--a prefecture-like Russian administrative region--will provide both the land and the necessary farm machinery, while North Korea provides the labor.

The sources, within the Amur oblast administration, said the two parties involved are a local-government-linked enterprise and the government of North Korea.

The project could benefit both sides. It will allow North Korea to secure additional sources of food and will enable Amur oblast to utilize some of the vast swaths of land lying fallow there in recent years because of a decline in farming and a shortage of labor following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.