Food Aid to North Korea Put on Hold
The U.N. World Food Program has suspended food production at its factories in North Korea as it continues to discuss its future operations with Pyongyang, the agency said.
In a report on its website Friday, the WFP said food production at its 19 factories had been suspended this week in response to the communist nation’s demand that all aid shipments be halted by the end of the year.
The North has asked that emergency aid be replaced by development assistance.
Food distribution will be scaled down starting Nov. 30 until the end of the year, the agency said. With cuts in cereal distribution, only about 3.6 million of the 6.5 million people the WFP feeds will be given aid this month, it said.
North Korea has relied on foreign aid to feed its 23 million people since the mid-1990s. Famine is estimated to have killed as many as 2 million people.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
