A nongovernment relief organization says prices in North Korea have skyrocketed by 50 times due to the side effects resulting from a recent currency reform.

The Venerable Pomnyun, who is the chief director of Good Friends, told a group of Korean residents in Washington on Friday that people are dying of hunger in the impoverished North.

Pomnyun said the North’s market became paralyzed in the wake of a bad harvest and a failed currency reform last year.

He said the government in the North has yet to make any measures to counter the situation and stressed that it would be desirable for South Korea and the United States to resume provisions of food aid to the North on a humanitarian basis.