Vietnam sends food aid to N. Korea

SEOUL, June 13 (Yonhap) -- Vietnam has sent food aid to North Korea, the North's state media reported Thursday, amid growing worries that Pyongyang faces worsening food shortages.

The food aid by Vietnam arrived at the western North Korean port of Nampo earlier in the day, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported in a one-sentence dispatch, without elaborating about the size or what the food packages are.

Last week, South Korea approved a plan to donate US$8 million to U.N. agencies for their humanitarian assistance projects in North Korea.

It marks the first humanitarian assistance to be provided to North Korea through international agencies by the Moon Jae-in government since its inauguration in 2017.

The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported, based on a visit to North Korea, that the country's crop output last year hit the lowest level since 2008, adding that an estimated 10 million people, about 40 percent of the population, are in urgent need of food.
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