North Korea is facing a food shortage of around 860 000 tons this year, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation forecast, warning the country could experience a “harsh lean period from August to October”.
The impoverished country, which is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, has long struggled to feed itself, suffering chronic food shortages.
Last year, the Covid-19 pandemic and a series of summer storms and floods put more pressure on the flagging economy, and Pyongyang admitted last month it was tackling a “current food crisis”.
Pyongyang shut its borders in January last year to protect itself against the pandemic and as a result, trade with Beijing, its economic lifeline, has slowed to a trickle while all international aid workers have…