Agency axes North Korean food aid

The World Food Programme has been forced to cut off food aid to 2.7 million North Korean women and children during the country’s harsh winter because of a lack of foreign donations, an agency spokesman said today.

The WFP received new promises of aid from the United States, the European Union and Australia after warning in December of an impending crisis, but those supplies could take up to three months to arrive, said spokesman Gerald Bourke.