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IFRC plea for

aid to N Korea

BEIJING: The Red Cross appealed on Wednesday for $5.25 million in aid for North Korea to avert famine in the hermit nation where food stocks were critically low.

More than 500,000 North Koreans had been left homeless by floods last year and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was committed to helping 130,000 of those victims, IFRC secretary-general George Weber told a news conference.

"If...international assistance and food aid is not continued, we may have a further deteriorating situation and possibly a famine," Weber said after a four-day visit to North Korea, where he met Vice-President Li Jong Ok.

The IFRC issued the fresh appeal after its previous call for 7.658 million Swiss francs ($6.0 million) raised only 23 percent of its target, he said.

The situation was likely to worsen considerably through September.

"Last year's harvest has been consumed, stocks are critically low, significant commercial imports are unlikely and there is virtually no food assistance in the pipeline," an IFRC report said.

Red Cross officials estimated North Korea would need 12,285 tonnes of rice, 2,730 tonnes of soybeans and 364,000 litres of vegetable oil in the seven months to October.-Reuter