'N Korea hit by worst drought'

North Korea has been hit by its worst drought in a century, state media said yesterday, sparking fears of worsening food shortages in the impoverished communist country.

The North's main rice-growing provinces -- South Hwanghae, North Hwanghae, South Pyongan and South Hamgyong -- have been badly damaged by a severe drought, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

Last week the South's unification ministry said the North's crop production could fall by as much as 20 percent from last year if the shortage of rainfall lasts until early July.

North Korea has suffered regular chronic food shortages -- hundreds of thousands are believed to have died during a famine in the mid-to late-1990s -- with the situation exacerbated by floods, droughts and mismanagement.