The North Korean Agriculture Ministry predicts the North's food situation will worsen next year.

The Seoul-based civic group Good Friends, dedicated to North Korean human rights, cited the North's forecast in the latest issue of its North Korea newsletter.

The group said Pyongyang made the forecast earlier this month based on the harvest return expected from its breadbasket area in the Hwanghae provinces.

Good Friends also said that the North's Workers' Party is doing everything in its power to secure food, including loosening customs restrictions to facilitate the import of more food from abroad.