“LET us turn ours into a country of mushrooms!”

“Play sports games in an offensive way!”

North Korea has released a bizarre list of propaganda slogans ahead of the 70th anniversary celebrating its founding and the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japanese rule.

The list of 310 slogans, which according to Reuters, ran to more than 7000 words in translation and spanned two pages of the party’s broadsheet newspaper, was drafted by the ruling Worker’s Party of Korea (WKP).

The slogans contained the usual heroic references to their leaders, praising their legacies and urging loyalty to the current ruler Kim Jong-Un.

There was also prominence given to its military strength, its enemies (the United States), education, the economy, sports, and farming, with particular reference to the need for increasing food production. North Korea has long struggled with reports of famine and food shortages.

“A lot of this has to do with very practical things to do with the economy, especially food,” said James Grayson, emeritus professor of modern Korean studies at Sheffield University, told BBC.

“It’s an indication of the absolutely dire state of the North Korean economy. You have this huge disparity between the select few living in the best parts of Pyongyang, who live very well — there are now examples of international businesses there, coffee shops and designer labels ... whereas other parts of the country are allowed to go to hell in a cart.”

The strange list of exclamation ladened slogans included:

“Let this socialist country resound with Song of Big Fish Haul and be permeated with the fragrant smell of fish and other seafoods!”

“Make fruits cascade down and their sweet aroma fill the air on the sea of apple trees at the foot of Chol Pass!”

“Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms!” and “Grow vegetables extensively in greenhouses!”

“Let the wives of officers become dependable assistants to their husbands!”

“Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland by the joint operation of the army and people!

“More stylish school uniforms” and “Organic farming on an extensive scale”.

“Should the enemy dare to invade our country, annihilate them to the last man so that none of them will survive to sign the instrument of surrender!”

The use of slogans by the totalitarian state is nothing new to its citizens. North Korea’s government often distributes new ideological messages ahead of major anniversaries marking the country’s successes. The propaganda is issued via state-controlled media to help enforce loyalty among the population.