SEOUL, May 9 (UPI) -- South Korea's Buddhist aid group Good Friends reports of famine deaths in North Korea, warning thousands may die by June if no help arrives.
The group said Friday North Korea is facing its worst food shortage in years, Yonhap reported.
Speaking in Washington, the group's head Ven Pomnyun was quoted as saying people were dying of starvation in some North Korean regions and that up to 300,000 may die in two months if they don't get emergency supplies from the international community, Yonhap said.
On Thursday, Yonhap said Good Friends in its weekly newsletter said one or two people have been dying each day in North Korea in recent days but gave no source for the information.
The newsletter quoted an unnamed senior official of the North Korean Workers' Party that the country's food situation is as bad as in the late 1990s when a massive number of people were believed to have died of starvation.
The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization had forecast in March that North Korea may face a massive shortage of 1.66 million tons of grain this year due to higher world prices and declining international aid, the report said.
