Aid Group Sees N. Korea Hunger

SEOUL, South Korea — Seven out of 10 North Koreans are believed to have insufficient food, a South Korean aid group said yesterday, citing the communist nation's distribution offices. The impoverished country has relied on foreign food aid since the mid-1990s when natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy and led to a famine estimated to have killed some 2 million people.

The Seoul-based Good Friends aid agency said there are concerns among mid-level North Korean officials that residents of cities who do not receive regular wages or rations and have no arable land could begin to starve, adding that farmers also have had food shortages since last month.