The United Nations food agency said on Monday it was relieved that the UN sanctions on North Korea will have little impact on humanitarian aid but warned that the crisis there is still "precarious."
"The sanction doesn't affect humanitarian food aid per se... from that perspective we're extremely happy," said World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Michael Huggins, who has just visited North Korea.
"The reason we're happy is because the situation in North Korea is so precarious and food security remains elusive for many millions of people," he told AFP.
But even though the sanctions have no immediate impact on international food aid, Huggins said millions are still going hungry due to the UN agency's lack of funding and South Korea's scaling back of food aid after the North's declared missile test.
Last month, the World Food Programme said it had received so far just eight percent of the 102 million dollars it needs to provide 150,000 tonnes of food over the next two years.
"We need to feed 1.9 million people and we're only feeding about a million," Huggins said.
Huggins said 37 percent of children under six are chronically malnourished in the reclusive communist state and one-third of North Korean women are anaemic and malnourished.
The isolated Stalinist state suffered a devastating famine for several years starting in 1995 in which hundreds of thousands died and survivors were forced to subsist on leaves and tree bark.
The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to punish the North, demanding it dismantle its nuclear weapons programme and abandon all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
It also calls for a ban targeting exports of missiles, tanks, large artillery systems, warships and combat aircraft to North Korea, and permits cargo inspection to prevent any illegal trafficking.