U.S. nonprofit radio broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported Friday that the United Nations' International Fund for Agricultural Development will resume a microfinance program in North Korea in 2010 on Pyongyang's request.

The previous program began in 1996 and ended in June this year.

Citing a U.N. official, the radio reported that around 91-thousand households that took out small loans of less than 50 dollars from the agency are considerably better off now than before.

The microfinance business was started by Mohammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, in Bangladesh in 1976 before being utilized in developing countries in Asia and Africa as well as advanced nations such as the United States and France.