North Korea is facing severe food shortages after being hit by its worst drought in more than 15 years, the United Nations said, calling for urgent food imports to stop children going hungry.
A severe lack of rainfall in the first half of this year has badly damaged vital harvests in a country where malnutrition is already widespread, according to the report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Seasonal rainfall has dropped below 2001 levels and could cause “a sharp deterioration in food security conditions of a large part of the population,” said Vincent Martin, FAO Representative in China and North Korea.
“Immediate interventions are needed to support affected farmers and prevent undesirable coping strategies for the most vulnerable, such as reducing daily food intakes,” Martin added.
Staple crops such as rice, maize, potatoes and soybean — which many North Koreans traditionally rely on to get through the May to September lean season — had been decimated by the drought. Vulnerable people such as children and the elderly would be worst affected by food insecurity, the FAO said.
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are believed to have died during widespread famine in the 1990’s.
