The U.N. children's fund, UNICEF, said this week it received as of October last year only a fifth of the funding it had needed in 2010 to feed children and women in North Korea.
In its 2010 "Humanitarian Action Report," UNICEF had said US$10 million would be needed to fund its work in the impoverished communist
country.
In its 2011 report released on Monday, the organization said only 21 percent, or US$2,050,636, was received as of October last year, forcing it to intervene in only the direst situations.
"Persistent domestic food shortages, brought about by recurrent natural disasters and decreased international food aid to the country,
have added new dimensions to a landscape marked by food insecurity," UNICEF said in its report.
"These are grim tidings in a country where an estimated 37 percent of the population depends on food aid," it said, citing a 2008 report
by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
UNICEF added in its own report that it is seeking US$12 million for its 2011 humanitarian work in North Korea.
"Without funding for the key activities, the adverse effects of lack of food will continue to haunt the country's women and children,
with no sign of abating," it said.
North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is believed to have suffered a famine that killed up to 2 million people
in the mid-1990's. Since then, the country has heavily depended on international handouts to feed its 24 million people.
But the country's provocative behavior, including two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches, has driven away much of the
international support. The North's deteriorating relations with the South have also led to a huge reduction in humanitarian aid from Seoul.