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NORTH KOREA

The North Korean food crisis has gone from bad to worse. Once again, aid workers have issued a 'special alert', following reports of diminishing food supply. Food allotments for most of the citizens have been cut to about 226.7 gm per person per day and some hungry residents are forced to eat roots. Aid workers believe the situation will only deteriorate further because of the lean period which extends from May to October, when the next harvest season starts. "There are some cases of malnutrition, but it is not widespread at this time, as far as we can tell," said Trevor Page, director for the World Food Programme, in the capital Pyongyang. Foreign assistance which helped North Koreans tide over the crisis in the winter, has come down from 50,000 tonnes (t) of grain a month to 12,200 t last month. But for the time being, the us, Japan and South Korea have refused to provide any additional aid.

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