SEOUL (AFP) — A trainload of food from Russia has arrived in North Korea, state media said Wednesday, days after the United States delivered a shipload of wheat to alleviate severe food shortages.
The train carried food provided by Russia through the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) and arrived Monday at the western border town of Sinuiju, the Korean Central News Agency said.
The food "is a token of the friendly relations between the peoples of the two countries and an encouragement to the Korean people," it said.
Aid groups and analysts have warned that the North faces an acute food shortage this year, following serious floods last summer which hit harvests as well as rising international prices.
The WFP estimates that more than five million people, out of a total population of 23 million, will need food aid this year.
A US-flagged ship arrived June 29 carrying 37,000 tonnes of wheat, the first instalment of 500,000 tonnes of food promised by Washington to the communist state earlier this year.
The WFP says the North has authorised an expansion of its feeding programme to cover more than five million people compared to the current 1.2 million.
The United States is the largest donor to the UN body's current programme in the North with 38.9 million dollars, followed by South Korea (20 million) and Russia (8 million).
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