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WFP DPR Korea Country Brief, November 2017

Countries
DPRK
Sources
WFP
Publication date

Highlights

  • In November WFP reached 558,057 women and children with nutrition support (regular nutrition assistance programme and support for 187,000 people affected by drought), delivering 1,668 mt of food.

  • Critical funding shortfalls have forced WFP to suspend nutrition support for 190,000 children in kindergartens since November.

  • WFP requires USD 14.65 million to maintain operations in DPR Korea for the next six months.

  • WFP is in discussions with the Central Bureau of Statistics to plan for a nationwide Food Security Survey, tentatively to be held in spring 2018.

Operational Updates

• In November, 11 factories produced 1,529 mt of food for distribution in December. Eleven WFP-supported factories produce 19,000 mt of fortified foods annually, including high-energy biscuits, cereal-milk blend and corn soya blend, all for women and children in need of nutritional support.

• A WFP food technologist conducted a routine mission to DPRK in November in order to evaluate the status of local food production, visiting factories and providing recommendations on improvements.

• Disaster risk reductions activities for 2017 were completed in November, including tree planting, rehabilitation of embankments and irrigation canals, and construction of small-scale dams. DRR activities took place in the spring and the fall, engaging 188,000 people.

Challenges

• Critical funding shortfall remains the biggest challenge.

• Although sanctions are not intended to affect humanitarian operations, as per repeated UN Security Council statements, indirect effects are noticeable on WFP’s operations, i.e. unstable banking channels which limit our access to cash for operations, and delays in logistics and procurement.

• It takes at least six months, once donations have been received, to buy food and transport it to DPR Korea, and for it then to be turned into fortified food at local factories and then to be distributed.

• With the onset of winter, physical access to parts of the country will become a challenge due to weather conditions.

Partnerships

• WFP is part of the Humanitarian Country Team and cochairs the DPR Korea Food Security and Agriculture Sector Working Group and the Nutrition Sector Working Group.