From correspondents in Beijing, China

Agence France-Presse

July 01, 2009 05:54pm

NORTH Koreans, especially children, are facing a "critical" food
situation as donations have dried up amid the country's nuclear standoff
with the world, the UN's food aid agency said today.

Torben Due, the World Food Programme's country representative in North
Korea, said Pyongyang had told the agency to scale back its operations
in the impoverished country, without giving clear reasons.

"It is a very serious problem for the population in (North Korea) as
they do not have enough to eat,'' Mr Due said.

He said the WFP, which launched an emergency operation in North Korea
late last year amid a deteriorating food outlook, has had to pare back
its goal of reaching 6.2m of the hungry, and is now targeting just 2.27m.

"For adults, it doesn't mean a lot if you live for a few months on a
diet of cereals and vegetables, but for children, it is critical,'' he said.

"We see an increase in the number of children being admitted to
hospitals with severe malnutrition,'' he added, while stressing that
observation was based on anecdotal evidence and could not yet be
quantified or verified.

Due said a study by the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organisation
last year estimated nearly nine million North Koreans -- more than a
third of the country's 24 million people -- require food aid.

A long-running international standoff over North Korea's nuclear
programmes escalated on May 25 when Pyongyang carried out its second
nuclear test, followed by further missile launches, which resulted in
new UN sanctions.

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