UN Says 8.7 Million North Koreans Need Food Aid 

By Ben Blanchard, Reuters

December 8, 2008

North Korea

Some 8.7 million North Koreans, or about 40 percent of the population, will urgently need food assistance in the next few months as the country cannot produce enough itself, two United Nations bodies said on Monday.

"DPRK will face a severe food situation over the coming months," said Henri Josserand, chief of the FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System, using the north's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"Despite good weather and hard work by farmers and many city dwellers, they could not overcome critical shortages of fertiliser and fuel.

"The prospects for next year are bleak, with a substantial deficit of basic foods that will only partly be covered by commercial imports and anticipated food aid," he said in a statement.

The young, pregnant and elderly will be most at risk, the statement added.

North Korea has relied on food handouts from South Korea, China, the World Food Programme and others for years.

Flooding over the past few years and the South's decision to suspend fertiliser aid in response to Pyongyang failing to live up to the terms a of nuclear disarmament deal have also pushed down domestic production.

"The findings of the mission confirm WFP's fears that millions of DPRK households will suffer through yet another year of food shortages," said Torben Due, the WFP's representative in North Korea.

"With such a large food gap, accessing enough food and a balanced diet will be almost impossible, particularly for families living in urban areas or in the remote food-deficit provinces in the northeast. This could have grave consequences for the health of the most vulnerable groups."

In the period from November 2008 to next October, North Korea will have a cereal deficit of 836,000 tonnes, even with around 500,000 tonnes of commercial imports, the statement said.

Food rations are expected to be cut, it added.

"Previous food security assessments have shown that the majority of families in DPRK are already cutting down the average number of meals per day and consuming a diet treacherously poor in diversity," Due said.

During a famine in the 1990s, as many as 1 million of the North's then 22 million people died.

The new report came as representatives of China, the United States, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas were meeting in Beijing on the latest round of talks to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programme.

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