North Korean media said the country has been hit by its worst drought in a century.
"The worst drought in 100 years continues in the DPRK, causing great damage to its agricultural field," said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Tuesday.
The reclusive communist state, officially known as Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), openly acknowledged the crisis, saying that its farmland is drying up. "Water level of reservoirs stands at the lowest, while rivers and streams [are] getting dry," the state-run news agency said.
North Korea's four major rice producing provinces, referred to as bread basket, were badly affected by the drought and could have drastic effects on the already crippling food production, according to KNCA .
"The granaries, including North and South Hwanghae provinces and South Phyongan and South Hamgyong provinces, have been badly damaged," said KNCA.
More than 30 percent of the country's paddy fields are parching up across the country. "Rice-transplanting has been finished in over 441,560 hectares of paddy fields across the country as of June 8, but at least 136,200 hectares of them are parching up," said KNCA.
Neighboring South Korea already raised concerns about the impact of drought on food production in North Korea.
"North Korea needs six million tons of food production annually to feed its people. If it suffers a 20 percent decrease in production, it will produce an estimated 4.3 and 4.4 million tons," said a South Korean official last week, according to Korea Joongang Daily.
Officials prepared new posters and slogans this month appealing to farmers to fight against drought. "Let's mobilize the masses and fight with all our strength against the drought," read one of the posters, according to DW.
North Korea has faced constant food shortages. Hundreds of thousands of people in North Korea died from famine in the 1990s. The United Nations says up to 70 percent of the population face food insecurity and about a third of the children are malnourished in the country, according to the BBC.
