London: North Korea is facing severe food shortages due to the worst drought since 2001, with food imports needed to ensure children and the elderly do not go hungry, the United Nations' food agency says.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said rainfall in key producing areas fell well below the long-term average between April and June and badly affected staple crops including rice, maize, potatoes and soybean.

This disrupted planting activities and damaged the 2017 main season crops, requiring

 increased food imports, commercial or food aid  over the next three months to ensure adequate food supplies for the most vulnerable, including children and the elderly.

The drought adds to pressure on the isolated nation, which is facing further sanctions by the UN Security Council as a result of its leader Kim Jong-un's testing of missiles over recent months.

North Korea boasted that it successfully test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 4, and the US concurred. Russia, however, disagreed and is blocking action on sanctions pending an agreement on what constitutes an ICBM.

Diplomats say Russia and China, North Korea's neighbour and top trading partner, are prepared to accept tougher sanctions on North Korea only after a nuclear test or an ICBM launch, and Russian officials say this month's test was of a shorter-range missile.

"The parametric flight data of the ballistic target corresponds to the tactical and technical parameters of a medium-range ballistic missile," according to a Russian statement on July 6. That position hasn't changed.

Independent analysts say the North Korean launch was, at minimum, a significant step toward an ICBM.

"This missile has clearly the longer range, of the type you'd normally call an ICBM," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of Arms Control Association. "What's clear is that with every test, the North Koreans are getting more information, they are learning more and their capabilities are improving. This was a leap for North Korea."

Meanwhile, Vincent Martin, the FAO's representative in China and North Korea, said the drought was expected to seriously affect areas which account for almost two-thirds of main season crops.

The FAO estimated that early-season production plunged over 30 per cent from the previous year, and the situation would worsen, with cereal imports and food aid likely to increase as a result.

North Korea suffered a devastating famine in the 1990s and has relied on international food aid to feed many of its 25 million people, but support has fallen sharply in recent years.

This was due to reluctance to allow monitoring of food distribution and also in part to earlier sanctions implemented to punish it over its weapons development program.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) said it has also seen a steep drop in contributions while the 2016 Global Hunger Index (GHI) said two in every five people in North Korea were undernourished.

Reuters, Bloomberg