North Korea appeals to foreign governments for food aid (NK Has ordered all its embassies to appeal) [View All]

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Embassies ordered to approach foreign capitals directly as international food needs assessment gets under way

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor | Thursday 10 February 2011 13.35 GMT

North Korea has ordered all its embassies to appeal to foreign governments for food aid in a sign of growing desperation in Pyongyang, according to diplomatic sources.

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The WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has begun a food needs assessment in North Korea, but the WFP said that last year it managed to raise only a fifth of the budget it needed for its North Korean aid programme.

That shortfall may be one of the reasons Pyongyang is trying a direct approach this year, observers said.

"This year, all 40 North Korean embassies have been ordered by Pyongyang to ask governments for food. They have each been given a quota," an Asian diplomat said.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/10/north-korea-appeals-foreign-food-aid