A Hong Kong newspaper says North Korea is withholding international food aid to regions where there have been anti-government protests.
The South China Morning Post quoted North Korean defectors in China. The North Koreans said that far less food was being shipped to key industrial cities on the east coast where numerous protests and armed uprisings occurred during the 19-90s.
The English daily quoted one of the groups as saying the population had been officially divided into useful and non-useful people and that non-useful people are excluded from food aid distribution.