Kim Jong-un tours newly opened North Korean potato starch factory

Last week North Korea's State News Agency shared a number of pictures of Kim Jong Un touring a new potato factory in Samjiyon, near the Chinese border.

The government boasts this one was built in just a month and can produce 4,000 tons of potato starch every year.

This may give the impression the communist state is thriving and sparkling new factories produce an abundance of food, but the reality is far different, as everyday North Koreans are ravaged by food shortages and are rationed just 300g of food a day - according to the Daily Mail.

The potato is an essential food security crop in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In 2007, it produced an estimated 1.9 million tonnes, placing the country among Asia's top 10 producers.