North Korea's food crisis appears to be worsening, South Korea said today, with media reporting that North Korean authorities have cut rations for soldiers for the first time in more than two decades.

North Korea has experienced severe food shortages in recent decades, including famine in the 1990s. The isolated country is under severe international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and in recent years its limited border trade has almost completely died down due to the pandemic.

South Korea's DongA Ilbo newspaper reported today that North Korea has reduced daily rations for troops for the first time since 2000, citing an unidentified senior South Korean official. South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said it could not confirm these media reports at this time, but that it was closely monitoring the situation.

North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported on February 6 that the Workers' Party of Korea had convened a meeting of the party's central committee for the "very important and urgent task of determining the correct strategy for agricultural development," Reuters reports.

The Unification Ministry states that North Korea rarely convenes a meeting of this type. Last month, the US-based monitoring group 38 North said that "food availability in North Korea has probably fallen below the minimum for human needs".

South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said recent North Korean media reports of appearance of leader Kim Jong-un's daughter in state positions could aim to foster unity and strengthen loyalty to the ruling family amid deepening humanitarian problems.