The World Food Program has expressed the need to continue humanitarian aid activities in North Korea despite the recent missile launches by the regime.

According to Radio Free Asia on Friday, a spokesperson for the UN agency said the WFP hopes the international community will continue to separate the humanitarian from the political, enabling the WFP to do its lifesaving work in North Korea.

The spokesperson also addressed claims raised by some that the North Korea food shortage situation unveiled in a recent report may have been exaggerated.

The WFP said it had access to a wide variety of locations and stakeholders, and the assessment was carried out in line with global standards.

The World Food Program and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization issued a joint report last week calling for urgent food assistance for North Korea. They assessed that over ten million North Koreans, about 40 percent of the population, were in need of food.

The report said North Korea's food production of four-point-nine million tons last year was the lowest since 2008.

It said that daily rations per person also decreased from 380 grams last year to 300 grams this year and the amount could further drop between July and September.