Radio Free Asia(RFA) says the World Food Program(WFP) projects that North Korea’s food shortage situation will further worsen in the second half of the year. 

RFA said Friday that the WFP made the projection in its latest country brief report for North Korea.

In the report, the UN agency said it distributed two-thousand-188 tons of food to 618-thousand-400 people in July. 

The figure includes some 325-thousand children in nurseries, around 101-thousand children in kindergartens, roughly 114-thousand-500 pregnant and breastfeeding women and some eight-thousand tuberculosis patients.

The July amount of assistance is similar to the amount provided in June.

Around 65 percent of the WFP’s food assistance, or one-thousand-418 tons, was fortified foods while the remaining aid comprised of 770 tons of maize went to North Koreans who took part in WFP job-creation projects.

The agency said that the food shortage situation may further deteriorate depending on the results of early crop harvests in June and main harvests in September and October. 

The WFP urged donors to support humanitarian needs in the North, estimating that 300-thousand tons of food is needed to scale up humanitarian assistance in support of those most affected by ongoing food shortages.