Famine-struck North Korea, now dependent on international food aid for survival, today reported another drought has hit all parts of the impoverished country, devastating the spring crops.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said "drought and heat persist in all parts of the DPRK (North Korea)."
Temperatures in North Korea's main rice growing provinces of North and South Hwanghae-do and North and South Pyong-do have been 30-33 degrees Celsius (86-91 degrees Fahrenheit), or six to nine degrees higher than normal for this time of year. Rainfall has been only 20-30 percent of the average for this season, KCNA said.
"Due to a long spell of drought and heat, paddy fields are parched and rice-transplantation is suspended in some areas," it said.
The agency added that maize and other crops had also been hit, that drought over several months was causing reservoirs to dry up and that "no water is to be seen in rivers and streams."
"Due to this drought, crops planted in spring could not sprout and crops are not doing well in this season," KCNA said.
2 million people died
With pastures also drying up, there is an acute shortage of fodder for domestic animals, KCNA said.
A U.S. congressional report has estimated that up to 2 million people in North Korea - almost 10 percent of the population - may have died from malnutrition and related diseases since 1995, when floods, drought and mismanagement of the state farm system devastated the rural economy.
A top U.N. official in North Korea said two weeks ago that Pyongyang plans to seek $250 million from donor countries this month under a plan to achieve food self-sufficiency in 2002.
David Morton, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Pyongyang, said a North Korean delegation would present the proposal at a donors' round-table to be held in Geneva on June 20.
Food supplies have "slightly improved" in the isolated communist country of 22.5 million inhabitants, where famine conditions peaked in 1997, according to the U.N. official.
"But by no means is the crisis over," Morton told a news briefing in Geneva late last month.
"There is a high level of malnutrition in the country due to a combination of food shortages, contaminated water supplies and poor sanitation," he said. "The situation has definitely improved, but there is still hardship in the northeast where I am sure people are still dying..."
The latest harvest yielded 3.4 million tons of milled grain (4.2 million tons of unmilled grain), which combined with 800,000 tons of foreign grain equaled 5 million tons - half a million tons short of the level needed to support the population. ....