North Korean Ambassador Kang Sam-hyon delivered a request to the Iranian Red Crescent for urgent humanitarian aid to combat what Pyongyang has termed its worst drought in 100 years, aggravating dire food shortages, state news agency IRNA said.
North Korea has suffered regular chronic food shortages - hundreds of thousands are believed to have died during a famine in the mid-to-late 1990s - with the situation exacerbated by floods, droughts and mismanagement.
Tehran and Pyongyang, allies since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the Western-backed shah, both face economic sanctions over their controversial nuclear programs.
International food aid, especially from South Korea and the United States, has been drastically cut amid tensions over the communist state's nuclear and missile programs.
While political and economic ties have remained strong, Tehran says military cooperation halted with the end of the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980s.
But U.S. officials suspect Iran's ballistic missile program was born on the back of North Korean technical assistance, according to leaked diplomatic cables dating back to 2010.
AFP
dailystar.com.lb
30/6/15
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Related:
Drought Puts North Korean Children at Risk ...
ReplyDeleteA severe drought in North Korea is putting the lives of children at risk and many are in serious danger of disease and malnutrition, the U.N. children's agency said on Wednesday.
UNICEF said in a statement that there had been in a sharp increase in cases of diarrhea among children in drought-affected areas, as access to safe drinking water and sanitation was severely compromised.
"Lack of rain reduces access to clean water and undermines effective hygiene, putting children's lives at risk," UNICEF Regional Director Daniel Toole said.
The North said it is experiencing its worst drought in a century, with some of its main farming regions particularly hard hit.
The country's large number of malnourished children – as many as one in four children according to a 2012 study – heightens concerns about the impact of drought, UNICEF said.
"These children are particularly vulnerable, because children who are malnourished have less resilience to water-borne illness and disease," the agency said..................http://www.voanews.com/content/drought-puts-north-korean-children-at-risk/2853253.html
8/7/15