The Times magazine says the millions of starving people in North Korea are the unknown victims of the diplomatic conflict over the nuclear standoff.

The weekly on Monday quoted the UN World Food Program as saying more than a third of the North's children are malnourished and that another famine looms there.

The North has largely relied on overseas food aid since the 1990s, when up to three million of its people starved to death.

But major food donors such as South Korea, the United States and Japan are reluctant to provide further assistance in light of the North's refusal to renounce its nuclear program.

Richard Ragan, WFP country director for the North, said his agency wants to provide food for 6.5 million North Koreans but has suspended rations for 3.6 million people this month as foreign aid has dropped more than 50 percent since 2002.