North Korea is threatened with hunger again, but Pyongyang does not allow representatives of the World Food Program of the United Nations (UN) to enter the country, writes "Economist".

According to North Korean media, UN aid is "poisonous candy" that offends "national honor and pride."

South Korea's Agricultural Development Agency estimates that North Korea produced only 4,5 million tons of food last year, not enough for its 26 million people.

The UN's World Food Program estimated in 2019 that North Korea needs more than 5,7 million tons of food annually to feed its population.

Bad weather and impending drought are likely to worsen the already worrying situation.

The United Nations estimates that between 2019 and 2021, 42 percent of North Korean citizens were malnourished.

The Great Famine in North Korea claimed the lives of at least 200.000 people in the 1990s, and according to some estimates, the actual number of victims was three million, informs "Economist".

Peterson Institute for International Economics analyst, Lucas Rengifo-Keller asserts that Pyongyang is "certainly not yet in that situation" similar to the 1990s, but that in a short period of time "it will be at that level".