N. Korea short of 200,000 tons of food this year: Unification Ministry

SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea was estimated to have a shortfall of only 200,000 tons of food for this year, Seoul's Unification Ministry said Monday, indicating that reports on the communist state's dire food situation may have been overblown. In a report submitted to an opposition lawmaker for a regular parliamentary audit, the ministry estimated the North's food shortage as of the end of July was 200,000 tons. The ministry's initial shortfall estimate, based on a recommended daily food intake of 458 grams per adult by the Food and Agriculture Organization, was about 500,000 tons. The authority later revised its estimate as the North is believed to have received 237,000 tons of food aid between November last year and the end of July, the ministry said. "North Korea suffers from a chronic shortage of food, but this year's shortfall is not that serious but at an endurable level," the report said.