The United Nations said Monday that it raised 127 million dollars for North Korean aid last year, reaching only 60 percent of its original target figure.

The U.N Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs leads a fund-raising scheme called the Consolidated Appeals Process program participated in by U.N. agencies including the World Food Program and UNICEF(U.N. Children's Fund). The program appeals to the international community for support for countries suffering from natural disasters, conflicts and poverty.

Several other U.N.-affiliated agencies are engaged in separate aid programs for the communist North.

Pyongyang has been dependent on outside handouts to feed its 22 million people since 1995.