Catfish is likely to help improve the food situation in North Korea, with the country's leader Kim Jong Un pledging to build a "powerful socialist economy."

In Pyongyang, a catfish farm was built in 2000, as Kim's father and former leader Kim Jong Il decided to grow the fish in an attempt to provide a source of protein for North Korean people, many of whom are believed to suffer from malnutrition.

The farm has increased its production capacity, raising hope that homemade catfish would become a rescuer for North Korea that has recently faced an economic downturn, with imports of essential commodities from China plunging due largely to U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang.

The Pyongyang Catfish Farm, where a group of Kyodo News reporters was granted rare access this week, can produce around 2,500 tons of catfish per year after the renovation carried out in 2014.

Water temperatures at the farm, which has over 100 outdoor fish breeding ponds, are maintained at a stable level with the help of solar energy. Efforts to improve catfish feed have been successful.

From October through May the following year, young fish are grown, and 2,000 tons of raw, frozen or smoked catfish are supplied to people in Pyongyang through markets and restaurants, including Okryu-gwan that serves a Pyongyang delicacy of cold noodles.

A 900-gram catfish is enough for three bowls of soup, meaning the farm could yield enough catfish for 6,000,000 bowls of soup in the city of about 2,500,000.

Although one of the main foods at restaurants in North Korea had been mullet before 2000, Kim Jong Il was aware that it was difficult to obtain the sufficient amount of the fish to meet energy needs of the country's people.

Catfish is seen as nutritious. In Japan, Kindai University in Osaka has tried to grow catfish in a bid to market it as a replacement for eel -- an endangered fish that is a very popular food among Japanese and is rich in fatty acids, calcium, vitamins and iron.

Initially, the farm was able to produce only 200 tons of catfish. It did 800 tons in 2009. After the renovation, 1,880 tons were yielded in 2015. Learning from the good examples in Pyongyang, many catfish farms have been constructed across the nation.

North Korea, however, may encounter a new challenge down the road. Young people in the country say they prefer meat rather than fish as in Western nations.

Kim Jong Un has already started to implement measures to increase the availability of meat by promoting the livestock industry.

The ruling Workers' Party of Korea said in April, "We will concentrate all efforts on building a powerful socialist economy and markedly improving the standard of people's living through the mobilization of all human and material resources of the country."

In his first public speech as North Korea's leader in April 2012, Kim promised to ensure that "the people will never have to tighten their belt again," showing his intention to tackle poverty through adequate food provision.

But North Korea's economy shrank 3.5 percent in 2017 as the international community, including China, has imposed sanctions aimed at preventing Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, a report released by the Bank of Korea showed last week.

The economic growth rate was lowest since 1997, when the South Korean central bank estimated that the North's economy contracted 6.7 percent against a backdrop of a nationwide famine. It said the North achieved 3.9 percent expansion in 2016.

China, which used to account for about 90 percent of North Korea's external trade, ramped up economic sanctions against Pyongyang late last year.

In the first half of 2018, China's total trade with North Korea dropped 59.2 percent from a year earlier, the government said. Beijing is regarded as Pyongyang's main economic lifeline.

Mark Lowcock, chief of humanitarian affairs for the United Nations, said earlier this month that a large number of North Koreans still need assistance, while around 20 percent of children in the country have stunted growth because of malnutrition.

"That figure in 2011 was about 28 percent, so that's an improvement. From 28 percent to 20 percent is an improvement, but 20 percent is still a high number," he told reporters while visiting the nation.