Threat of Famine Seen for N. Korea

ROME — North Korea is sending millions of people from its cities to work on farms each weekend, another indication that the risk of famine is particularly high this year, a United Nations official said Wednesday.

The U.N.’s World Food Program is the only aid organization operating in North Korea that has a presence outside Pyongyang, the capital, and its officials have reported movements of the nation’s people from cities to farms, said Anthea Webb, spokeswoman for the Rome-based agency.

“It’s not a new phenomenon, but it certainly caught our folks’ attention in terms of the size and the scale,” she said. “I suppose also we’re so worried about the situation; it’s one more sign that things aren’t going well.”

The isolated nation has depended on outside support to feed its 23 million people since the 1990s. An estimated 2 million North Koreans starved to death after the regime’s state farm system collapsed following decades of mismanagement and the loss of subsidies from Moscow.

The World Food Program recently launched a new appeal for food donations, saying the supplies that let it feed 6.5 million North Koreans were dwindling.