North Korea faces another food shortage, harsh winter

UNICEF says 62 percent of North Korean children are malnourished

PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) -- Despite several years of international aid to counter famine caused by a series of floods and droughts, North Korea's children are still hovering on the brink.

And it does not appear there will be any respite soon. As has been the case during the past few years, North Korea has begun what many say will be a long, hard winter.

The country, with a population of 20 million, has had another poor harvest. That, says Caritas Internationalis spokeswoman Kathi Zellweger, means most North Koreans will receive about 1,300 calories per day.

"You cannot live on that," Zellweger told CNN. "The rest needs to come in through food aid."

VIDEO CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon reports on the continuing food shortage in North Korea Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Caritas, an international group of Catholic organizations, is one of several aid agencies that have been providing relief to North Korea.

Floods, drought plague North Korea

North Korea has been plagued by a series of natural disasters since the mid-1990s. The floods and droughts have caused severe food shortages across the country. A flood in August 1995 left 100,000 families homeless and wiped out nearly 50 percent of the crops.

The years of hardship -- including a power shortage that has left hospitals cold and a lack of medicine -- have taken their toll, especially on children.

"Stunting, of course, is a big problem," Zellweger said. "Very often I would think this child is 8 or 9 years old ... but it is 13 or 14 years."

In September 1998, a nutrition survey by the U.N.'s World Food Programme, the European Union and UNICEF revealed that 62 percent of North Korean children were stunted -- short for their age -- and severely malnourished.

The report said long-term food deprivation and contaminated drinking had contributed to the children's health problems. At the time, WFP officials appealed for 530,000 tons of food aid.

"Approaching its sixth year of food shortages, therefore, the country still requires large scale food assistance to ensure adequate nutritional standards, especially for children, pregnant women and the elderly," a joint WFP/Food and Agricultural Organization report said in July.

Organizations such as World Vision, which recently that set up this noodle plant, are assisting North Korea's food production system

The FAO estimated that North Korea's cereal production was 2.93 million tons between November 1999 and October 2000. Figures were not available for the previous period.

North Korea, FAO officials said, would need 1.33 million tons of cereal imports, of which 210,000 tons could be imported commercially and 586,000 tons could be emergency food aid.

World providing assistance

Several aid agencies have been helping North Korea try to rebuild its production system. World Vision, for example, recently established a noodle plant and hydroponic greenhouse.

The organization also introduced a strain of disease-resistant potatoes to North Korea.

Meanwhile, Japan, in an effort to improve relations with North Korea, decided last month to donate through the WFP 500,000 tons of rice to the country.

"The world community needs to help (North Korea) to be self-sufficient," said World Vision spokesman Wattanapong Santatiwat.

"They have the capacity, they have the ability. They just need ... to walk alongside, give them a little help," he said.

CNN Correspondent Rebecca MacKinnon and Reuters contributed to this report.

UNICEF

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