Introduction:

North Korea has very clear humanitarian needs which the international community can help to resolve, the UN’s top humanitarian official said on Thursday, after his first visit to the country, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In an interview with UN News, relief chief Mark Lowcock described how one in five children there, suffers from stunted growth. He said a lack of funding and international sanctions was hampering the delivery of vitally needed food and medicines, “which isn’t what anybody wants”.

Speaking in Beijing via Skype, having left DPRK, Mr. Lowcock told Daniel Johnson that he had met senior government officials who said they wanted “more assistance” from the UN.