UN sends first food aid to flood-hit N Korea
04 Aug 2012
The United Nations World Food Programme has said it is sending a first shipment of emergency food aid to flood-hit areas of North Korea, where torrential rain and a typhoon have killed well over a hundred people and inundated cropland.
The assistance will provide victims with an initial ration of 400 grams (14 ounces) of maize a day for 14 days, the UN body said in a statement.
The North's state media reported today that the death toll from flooding between late June and the end of last month had increased to 169.
KCNA news agency said the number of missing had risen to some 400, while 212,200 had been left homeless.
The World Food Programme said a UN mission that travelled to flood-hit regions earlier in the week found considerable damage to maize, soybean and rice fields.
The country struggles to feed its people even in normal times and suffered a famine in the 1990s that killed hundreds of thousands.
