By Xinhua
Pyongyang : North Korea Tuesday received the first consignment of food aid from India aimed at easing the severe shortage in the country, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The quantity of food aid was not specified in the report.
Indian Ambassador to Pyongyang Zile Singh and North Korean officials were present in a presentation ceremony at Nampho Port, it said.
The communist country of 23 million has been heavily depending on foreign aid since the 1990 when natural disasters devastated its economy.
To top an already difficult situation, a countrywide flood last year in the wake of heaviest rain in 40 years had killed hundreds and destroyed more than 10 percent of standing crops.
According to UN food agency World Food Programme the country’s current food shortfall stands at some 1.4 million tonnes to be met by foreign aid.