Two days after President Obama announced new sanctions against North Korea, Pyongyang launched another ballistic missile into the sea. The escalation in tensions also complicates the case of American student Otto Warmbier. Photo: Reuters

HIS love for fine food is well renowned.

But North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has warned his people the nation faces very tough times ahead and they must be “prepared to eat roots once again”.

Whether the leader of the secretive state will follow his own advice remains to be seen, North Koreans are already preparing for the long road ahead.

This week it emerged state media has ordered its people to prepare for a new “arduous march” in the wake of fresh sanctions placed against the secretive state.

“The road to revolution is long and arduous”, the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper warned.

“We may have to go on an arduous march, during which we will have to chew the roots of plants once again”.

North Koreans are also being mobilised en masse to boost production and demonstrate their loyalty to leader Kim Jong-un in a 70-day campaign aimed at wiping out “indolence and slackness”.

Bright red flags and propaganda posters have gone up around the country to emphasise the importance of meeting or exceeding production targets

Kim’s dire warning comes as the UN Security Council imposed its toughest sanctions yet against North Korea over its recent nuclear tests and rocket launches.

The “arduous march” was the term given to the four-year famine which plagued North Korea from 1994, killing up to 3.5 million people.

The famine was caused by economic mismanagement, natural disaster and the fall of the Soviet bloc, The Telegraph reported.

Those who survived were forced to eat tree bark and pluck undigested kernels of corn from animal excrement while those in the government and military fared far better.

A former highly decorated North Korean colonel Kim Jong Ryul revealed in 2010 just how well official figures were treated during that time.

The colonel who spent two decades going on European shopping sprees for his country’s rulers has revealed how the late dictator Kim Il Sung lived in luxury and pampered himself with expensive cars and delicacies as the hungry masses outside his opulent palaces struggled to survive.

THE GOOD LIFE

While the majority of North Koreans struggle, their current leader doesn’t appear to go without either. His weight has reportedly grown to 131kg, stacking on 30kg in the past 12 months, due mainly to his love of Swiss cheese Emmental.

Last year, Kenji Fujimoto, the chef who worked for Kim’s father for 13 years, revealed the dictator’s expensive taste for sushi and champagne.

“I used to make sushi for the General (Jong-il) at least once a week and Jong-un always joined the dinner. So I could say Jong-un liked sushi,” he was quoted in the Mail Online.

“He drank a lot. His favourite was Cristal, usually about two bottles [in a sitting].”

He also revealed how a lavish North Korean banquet he attended along with Kim in 2012, where Kobe steak and shark-fin soup, a delicacy that is purported to have many health benefits, was served.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang has ordered every citizen in the capital to provide about 900g of rice to the state’s supplies every month, while farmers are forced to hand over additional rations from their own meagre crops to the military, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported.

Peasants in North Korea must turn food over to the government, even as they starve.

The comments from state media come amid reports of North Koreans hoarding their food supplies, according to The Telegraph.

Kim Jong Un’s regime has been cracking down on open-air markets that have served as a source of additional food for city dwellers.

“Even if we give up our lives, we should continue to show our loyalty to our leader, Kim Jong Un, until the end of our lives,” the state-run newspaper wrote, calling for a “70-day campaign of loyalty.”

THE SANCTIONS

The UN Security Council unanimously approved the toughest sanctions against the country in two decades, reflecting growing anger at Pyongyang’s tests.

However, China, was reluctant to impose measures that could threaten the stability of North Korea and cause its economy to collapse.

The council maintained the new measures are not intended to have “adverse humanitarian consequences” for civilians, the majority who face economic hardships and food shortages.

They include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by sea or air, a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to Pyongyang, and expulsion of diplomats from the North who engage in “illicit activities.”

The UN Security Council unanimously approved the toughest sanctions against the country in two decades, reflecting growing anger at Pyongyang’s move.

Just days ago, world leaders gathered for a nuclear security summit where US President Barack Obama met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Together, they warned North Korea would face even tougher sanctions and more isolation if they provoke again with nuclear and missile tests.

Mr Abe also warned North Korea nuclear and missile capability was a “direct and grave threat” to them all.