North Korea received 1,425 tons of food aid from the World Food Programme last month, the UN food agency's monthly report showed Wednesday, as the impoverished country struggles to cope with chronic food shortages.

The amount is down from the 2,188 tons provided a month earlier, according to the WFP report. A total of 557,930 people received the aid across North Korea last month.

"Nutritional support is focused on areas of the country where food security and nutrition are fragile and reaches 60 counties across nine provinces every month," it said.

In May, the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the North's crop output last year hit the lowest level since 2008, with an estimated 10 million people, or about 40 percent of its population, in urgent need of food.

"The initial indication of the early crop harvest of potatoes, wheat and barley are positive. However, the weather conditions may have negatively affected the main crops, which will be harvested in Sept./Oct.," it said.

South Korea planned to provide 50,000 tons of rice to the North via the WFP to help Pyongyang address the food situation, but the North has refused to accept it.

Inter-Korean relations have remained stalled, with North Korea not responding to Seoul's offers for talks, apparently stymied by a lack of progress in denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington. (Yonhap)