The total area of North Korea’s rice paddies decreased by 0.8 percent in 2022 from a year earlier, data showed, reflecting the reclusive regime’s challenging food shortages.

The North’s rice paddies totaled 539,569 hectares in 2022, an area slightly larger than the US state of Delaware, compared to 544,006 hectares recorded in 2021, according to Statistics Korea.

The figure stands at around 74 percent of the 727,158 hectares of rice paddies in South Korea.

The North is known for chronic food shortages that have been aggravated in recent years by global sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs, unfavorable weather and border lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)