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SEOUL - A UNITED Nations relief agency has appealed for 15 million dollars (S$21.2 million) in emergency aid for North Korean children, saying last year's floods increased their vulnerability.
The financial needs for 2008 include eight million dollars for health and nutrition, six million for water, sanitation and hygiene and one million for education, the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) said.
"The devastation caused by the floods in 2007 has further increased the vulnerability of children," said Unicef's Humanitarian Action Report 2008 released Tuesday.
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Child mortality (55 per 1,000 live births), chronic malnutrition of children under-five (37 per cent) and malnutrition of pregnant women (32 per cent) remained high, Unicef said.
It attributed the high mortality and malnutrition to prolonged poverty, lack of resources in the health system, decaying water and sanitation systems, inadequate caring practices for young children and pregnant women and fragile food security.
The North said about 600 people were dead or missing, hundreds of thousands homeless and 11 percent of the grain harvest was lost due to floods in August last year.
It said factories, mines, roads and railways were damaged or destroyed across six provinces.
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