at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars - to help 6.5 million North Koreans deemed most at risk out of a population of 23 million. A majority of those in need are women, children and the elderly. Some 37 per cent of the country's children are regarded as "malnourished" by U.N. standards. The plight of the most vulnerable is aggravated by an economic adjustment process initiated in mid-2002 that has led to steep increases in market prices of basic foods, and sharply lower incomes for millions of factory workers rendered redundant or now employed part-time, a WFP statement said. "These people are suffering," said Banbury, who declined to answer questions on North Korea's controversial nuclear programme and the international condemnation surrounding it. "It is not the government that needs the food, it's the people that need the food," he said.
