World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

"How does number the 13 relate to the food produced locally in DPR Korea? And the number five? What about the number seven?" These were some of the questions that over 60 DPR Korean participants of a Local Food Production workshop were asked when their session started on 28 February in Hamhung city, on the east coast of DPR Korea.  While individual factories have long experience in the production of biscuits and Supercereals in DPR Korea, their managers and core staff members have limited opportunities to meet and share issues of common interest to all producers.  

Ju Hye-Sim lives with her husband in Chongnam, in DPR Korea’s South Pyongan province. As a pregnant woman from a poor household, she received specialised nutritious food from WFP from the first trimester of her pregnancy, until six months after her child was born. This assistance is part of WFP efforts to ensure newborn children are given the best possible start in life in a country where under-nutrition is a chronic and widespread problem.

Sim Mun-Sop oversees work at Chongnam Gu People’s Hospital in DPR Korea’s South Pyongan province. On a recent visit to the institution, WFP’s monitoring staff heard how nutritional assistance has been helping young children return to health.

On October 3, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and WFP will commence this year’s  Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

On 14 September His Excellence, Mr. Sanjay Singh, Secretary East of the Ministry of External Relations, took time off to travel outside Pyongyang to visit children in institutions and hospitals benefitting from India’s contribution to WFP’s operation in DPRK.

Dramatic flooding following heavy rains is adding a new challenge for the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, many of whom are already going hungry as food supplies run thinner and thinner. Children in particular remain highly vulnerable to malnutrition.

Kwan Un-Sin's two-month-old child, Ho Wi-Ryok, is healthy and well. Un-Sin, who lives in Jangpung in South Hwanghae province, received specialised food support from WFP during her pregnancy – blends of both corn and milk and rice and milk produced in factories in DPRK. 

Child malnutrition is on the rise in the Democratic Popular Republic of Korea in the wake of serious food shortages. Cereal rations in much of the country have fallen to a quarter of their normal levels. In paediatric wards around the country, food provided by WFP is helping malnourished children rebuild their strength.

Hyon-Gil is an orphan who is a boarder at a school in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). He is one of 3.5 million people targeted by WFP under the current emergency operation to address food shortages in the country.

As we scale back our food assistance programme to North Koreans, WFP is allocating the limited food stocks available to some of the most vulnerable regions and beneficiary groups.