BEIJING, 1 July 2009: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced Wednesday that it is being forced to scale back its emergency operation to reach six million hungry and vulnerable people in North Korea due to a severe lack of funding.
The agency said that of the 504 million US dollar needed for the programme, only 75 million has been received so far.
WFPs spokesperson in North Korea, Lena Savelli, told UN Radio that the agency will target its work in only 57 counties out of the 131 where it had originally planned to provide food aid.
– This will bring down the planned number of beneficiaries from 6,2 to 2,27 million, she said, adding that at current levels, WFP has the resources needed to continue this level of operations until October or November.
A joint report by WFP and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) released last December estimated that nearly nine million people could be hungry due to a shortage in cereals (korn) in North Korea in 2009.
Even with commercial imports, the Communist-ruled country will face a cereal deficit of over 800.000 tons, according to the FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission, the first such comprehensive mission conducted since 2004.
Kilde: FNs nyhedstjeneste
