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Source: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/nort...01400315F.HTML
2011/03/11 09:11 KST
N. Korea's food shortages to remain serious this year: expert
SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's food shortages will continue to be severe this year due largely to shrinking international handouts, soaring grain prices and an outbreak of a highly infectious animal disease, a researcher said Friday.
Kwon Tae-jin, a North Korea expert at the Korea Rural Economic Institute in Seoul, said that he expects the North's grain harvest this year to be about 100,000 tons less than last year.
South Korean experts and officials say the impoverished communist neighbor probably produced about 4.1 million tons of grain last year, similar to a year earlier.
On Saturday, the U.N.'s World Food Program plans to brief foreign officials in Pyongyang on the situation of North Korea's harvests for last year, according to a diplomatic source in Seoul. Earlier this week, South Korea's Unification Minster Hyun In-taek said the harvest would amount to "4.1 million tons, plus or minus."
According to Kwon, the country will need at least 5.5 million tons to feed its hungry 24 million population this year. Since North Korea conducted a series of missiles launches and nuclear tests, international assistance has been curtailed while South Korea suspended its official food aid amid high cross-border tensions...
2011/03/11 09:11 KST
N. Korea's food shortages to remain serious this year: expert
SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's food shortages will continue to be severe this year due largely to shrinking international handouts, soaring grain prices and an outbreak of a highly infectious animal disease, a researcher said Friday.
Kwon Tae-jin, a North Korea expert at the Korea Rural Economic Institute in Seoul, said that he expects the North's grain harvest this year to be about 100,000 tons less than last year.
South Korean experts and officials say the impoverished communist neighbor probably produced about 4.1 million tons of grain last year, similar to a year earlier.
On Saturday, the U.N.'s World Food Program plans to brief foreign officials in Pyongyang on the situation of North Korea's harvests for last year, according to a diplomatic source in Seoul. Earlier this week, South Korea's Unification Minster Hyun In-taek said the harvest would amount to "4.1 million tons, plus or minus."
According to Kwon, the country will need at least 5.5 million tons to feed its hungry 24 million population this year. Since North Korea conducted a series of missiles launches and nuclear tests, international assistance has been curtailed while South Korea suspended its official food aid amid high cross-border tensions...