Seoul - Two UN agencies warned yesterday that North Korea faces a seventh year of food shortages and appealed for more international food aid to the communist state.
"Severe drought, typhoons, poor infrastructure and economic problems mean that [North Korea] is facing its seventh consecutive year of food shortages," the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a press release.
A joint Food and Agriculture Organisation and WFP mission reported "a sizeable reduction" in rice and maize production this year, with rice alone falling 31 per cent from 1999, it said.