The United Nations in January will end a decade of emergency food aid to North Korea after Pyongyang said it has enough food coming from other sources.

Richard Ragan, the World Food Program's director for North Korea, on Monday said the U.N. body will instead pursue developmental projects in the North under Pyongyang's request.

He said the WFP and donors are discussing support for the change, adding the North says it has food coming in from South Korea and has increased trade with China.

Ragan said the North apparently wants to avoid a culture of dependency.

Early this month, the North asked the WFP to shift its emergency relief method of providing food to the North to one promoting self-help through developmental assistance.

North Korea has relied on food aid to feed its 23 million people after admitting in the mid-1990s that its state-run agricultural system had collapsed. Famine is estimated to have killed two million people.