North Korea says thanks for food aid

North Korea has thanked the World Food Programme for launching a new appeal last week for thousands of tons of food aid to help it avoid famine over the coming months.

A spokesman for North Korea's Committee for Recovering from Flood Damage said the WFP's appeal would encourage the population in their efforts to recover from the disasters of recent years.

Last week, the WFP said it needed more than 650-thousand tons of food for the biggest emergency operation in its history to help North Korea, where both drought and floods have aggravated food shortages.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service