Seoul - North Korea's food situation will deteriorate sharply next year because drought has devastated this year's grain crops, South Korea's unification ministry warned yesterday.
"Following a two million tonne shortfall this year, next year North Korea will need extra 2.6 million tonnes" from the international community to stave off starvation, the ministry said.
"Many reservoirs are half-empty, and about one-third of the total cropland affected by drought," it said, adding that the drought damage was worse than the havoc wreaked by last year's floods. The warning came five days after the Red Cross said North Koreans were digging trenches around rice paddies to save their crops from new rains.