Starving North Korean soldiers are living on just two potatoes a day – despite crackpot Kim Jong-un spending tens of millions on nuclear weapons (and Swiss cheese)
WAR-mongering Kim Jong-un wants to take on the might of America – despite feeding his troops just two potatoes a day.
The secretive nation’s soldiers are so hungry they have been forced to steal spuds from locals.
All the while greedy Kim is thought to gorge on his favourite Emmenthal cheese and splash the nation's cash on failed missile tests.
And their terrible diet means North Korean troops are far shorter than their southern neighbours.
Some have been caught eating barley straight from plants in the fields.
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A defector from the hermit nation – where many of the 27 million inhabitants are on the breadline – revealed its army is starving.
He said: “The main difficulty conscripts must endure is constant hunger.
“Soldiers in the special units are well taken care of but those stationed outside the capital Pyongyang are only given two or three potatoes a meal or are fed solely on raw corn kernels or corn rice.”
Kim has vowed to obliterate the US for trying to stop its nuclear programme.
Pyongyang is attempting to fit a nuclear warhead to its developing missile stockpile.
Yet the state of the North Korean army remains well-hidden, with energetic soldiers recently taking part in a sabre-rattling parade through the capital’s streets.
The defector added: “The military police are always on the look -out for soldiers who’ve escaped to look for food.
“Sometimes these soldiers steal from civilians and farming stockrooms because they’re so hungry. If it’s edible, they’ll steal it.
“I’ve heard that some senior officers will even order soldiers to go out and steal. If they fail they may be punished.
“In my high school class there were 25 boys. Five went to college and the remaining 20 went into the military.
“Half of those were returned home suffering from the effects of malnutrition.
“Soldiers are given home leave to recover. Most are too weak to even walk by themselves, so their parents pick them up and feed them back to health.
“When they improve they go back to the army.
“The lucky ones serve in the special unit, or serve under good officers who take care of them.
“The unlucky ones die of hunger before their parents have a chance to help them. The only thing these parents pray for is the safe return of their sons.”
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