A South Korean group that provides aid to North Korea said Thursday the impoverished communist country has stopped rice rationing nationwide.

Good Friends said in a newsletter on North Korea that as the food situation worsens, some mid- and low-level party members could not receive rice in March.

The group also claimed that food rationing has been suspended since last November in most rural parts of South Hwanghae Province, despite its being a grain-producing region.

Good Friends added that rice prices in the province are now higher than in North Hamgyeong Province.