The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says despite some improvements in North Korea over the past several years, malnutrition still poses a serious problem for North Korean children.

On her recent visit to North Korea, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told reporters in Seoul that the situation in the North is not at the crisis level of seven years ago, but stressed that malnutrition is still a serious local problem.

Bellamy, who arrived in South Korea Tuesday after a three-day visit to the impoverished North, said the UN relief agency will conduct nutrition surveys in the North next year.

A joint survey conducted by the World Food Program and UNICEF with the North Korean government in 2002 showed there was less chronic malnutrition in the reclusive communist state, though severe malnutrition continued to be a significant problem.

During her stay in the South, Bellamy is scheduled to meet with top government officials and ask for Seoul's additional aid to the impoverished North.