North Korean food supply still precarious – UN

Food insecurity

FILE PHOTO: Food insecurity

World Food Programme (WFP)

The supply of food remains precarious in North Korea where one in five children is stunted by malnutrition, the UN food agency said on Tuesday.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said more than 10 million North Koreans, nearly 40 per cent of the population, are undernourished and need humanitarian aid.

“WFP, which provides fortified cereals and enriched biscuits to 650,000 women and children each month, may have to cut its nutrition and health programs again because it lacks funding,’’ WFP spokesman, Herve Verhoosel, said.

WFP and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are among only a few aid agencies with access to North Korea which suffered a famine in the mid-1990s that killed up to three million people.

“Despite some improvements this year, humanitarian needs across DPRK remain high with chronic food insecurity and malnutrition widespread,” Verhoosel told a Geneva news briefing.

He was referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name for North Korea.

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“Some donors and companies, including shipping companies, have been reluctant to fund or to get involved in aid programmes for North Korea.

“However, humanitarian work is excluded from sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on North Korea for its nuclear and missile program.

“We cannot wait for political or diplomatic progress to support a civilian population and to basically work on a humanitarian agenda.

“The U.S., the WFP’s largest donor overall, is not among current donors to its programme in North Korea, which include France, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, and the Russian Federation,’’ Verhoosel said.

The WFP, which appealed this year for 52 million dollars for North Korea, needs 15.2 million dollars to fund its programmes over the next five months and avoid further cuts to its food assistance.

Verhoosel said that critical funding shortfalls meant this year the agency was forced to leave 190,000 children in kindergartens without nutritional support.

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