The Food and Agriculture Organization has once again designated North Korea as a food-deficit country in need of external aid. The UN agency also announced a weak outlook for food security in North Korea.

In its latest report released Wednesday, FAO included North Korea on its list of 42 countries that need external assistance in food resources, according to Voice of America, a US-based news outlet, on Friday. 

North Korea is expected to experience food shortages and an economic slump, said FAO, adding that 1.58 million tons of crops would need to be imported.

Next year’s crop yields in the country are expected to be less than the average of the last five years, due to the lack of irrigation water and rainfall early this year and damage caused by flooding in August and early September, according to FAO.

The countries requiring external food assistance include 32 African nations and eight Asian countries, with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar among them.

In a joint food security assessment of North Korea conducted between March and April, FAO and the World Food Program found that there were about 10.1 million people suffering from severe food shortages due to the worst harvest in 10 years.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)