The World Bank said North Korea continues to suffer food shortage despite its five percent rise in food production in the past three years.
 
The World Bank made the assessment in its 2014 World Development Indicators.
 
The bank quoted a 2012 UN report that said 19 percent of children aged five or under in North Korea are underweight due to malnutrition. The report also said one out of three North Koreans is unable to get the sufficient amount of nutrition needed to stay healthy.
 
The bank found the North’s under-five mortality rate stood at 29 per one-thousand in 2012, down from 33 per one-thousand posted in 2011. It said North Korea, however, still held the highest under-five mortality rate in East Asia and the region’s highest maternal mortality rate. 
 
The World Bank also found the North’s ownership rate of mobile phones stood at only seven percent, or far behind the average of 89 percent posted in East Asia.
 
Of some 200 countries the World Bank surveyed, only North Korea completely blocked people’s Internet access.