The United Nations World Food Program has to drastically cut the number of hungry North Koreans it feeds because of a lack of international funding and new restrictions imposed by Pyongyang.
由于缺少国际资金和平壤新实施的限制，联合国粮食计划署大幅减少了提供粮食援助的北韩饥民数量。
The World Food Program originally planned this year to reach more than six million hungry people in North Korea.
世界粮食计划署起初计划今年向600多万北韩饥民提供粮食援助。
WFP North Korea representative Torben Due said Wednesday that number has been cut by two-thirds, to less than two million. He referred to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
世界粮食计划署驻北韩代表迪尤星期三说，该机构把接受粮食援助的人数减少了三分之二，降至不到200万人。他谈到北韩时使用的是其正式名称。
"It's among the lowest [number] we've ever had in the DPRK," said Due.
迪尤说：“这是我们在朝鲜民主主义人民共和国历来的最低数字。”
Due says the main problem is that the WFP's emergency operation in North Korea does not have enough money. The program has received "very little funding" since October 2008. Of the $500 million needed, only 15 percent has been received so far.
迪尤说，主要问题在于，世界粮食计划署在北韩的紧急运作没有足够的资金。这个援助项目自从2008年10月以来几乎没有得到任何资金。项目需要5亿美元，但是到目前为止只收到了15%。
He also says the North Korean government has placed new restrictions on the WFP's work. These new conditions include not being allowed to have Korean-speakers on the WFP staff, which has been sharply reduced to 16 people, from 59. There also is a requirement that the WFP give notice seven days in advance to visit a site, as opposed to the current 24-hour notice.
他还说，北韩政府对世界粮食计划署的活动实施了新的限制，包括不允许世界粮食计划署雇用可以讲韩语的工作人员。另外，雇员总数已经从59人减少到16人。北韩同时还要求世界粮食计划署在前往任何地方7天之前预先通知，而不是原来的24小时。
Due says most of the hungry people in North Korea now suffer from the effects of nearly two decades of food shortages. He says the problems of serious malnourishment affect children before they are even born, if their mothers are underfed.
迪尤说，北韩的大部分饥民由于20年来的粮食短缺而饱受煎熬。他说，如果孕妇没有足够的食品，婴儿在出生之前就受到严重营养不良的影响。
"We are seeing the combined impact of a chronic undernourishment of a very large part of the population and the impact of it is more dramatic than just a few weeks or months where you have too little to eat," said Due.
迪尤说：“我们看到人口中一大部分人长期营养不良的影响。这种影响远远大于仅仅几个星期或几个月没有东西吃的影响。”
He says the WFP and the UN's Food and Agriculture organization did a joint survey last year that found a 8.7 million people in North Korea need food aid. This is more than a third of the country's total population of 23 million people.
他说，世界粮食计划署和联合国粮农组织去年联合进行了一次调查，发现北韩有870万人需要粮食援助。这占北韩2千300万人口的三分之一以上。
North Korea has needed aid to feed its people for more than decade. Its state-controlled economy has contracted because of mismanagement and shortages of raw materials, while poor farming techniques and periodic floods have reduced harvests.
十多年来，北韩一直需要粮食援助来让其国民有饭吃。北韩完全由国家控制的经济由于管理不善和原材料短缺而收缩，同时低劣的农业技术和不断的水灾也减少了收成。 |