In this photo released by Caritas Hong Kong, North Korean mothers hold babies at a Rakwon County hospital in North Korea's South Hamgyong province. In this photo released by Caritas Hong Kong, North Korean mothers hold babies at a Rakwon County hospital in North Korea's South Hamgyong province March 3, 2005. The hospital will be provided with basic medical equipment, supplies and drugs by an international aid group which has been operating in North Korea for ten years. Picture taken March 3, 2005. Reuters/Caritas/Kathi Zellweger/Pool 

North Korean babies are seen at the Hamhung Baby Home in Hamhung in North Korea's South Hamgyong province. In this photo released by Caritas Hong Kong, North Korean babies are seen at the Hamhung Baby Home in Hamhung in North Korea's South Hamgyong province March 3, 2005. The babies receive support from an international aid group which has been operating in North Korea for ten years. Reuters/Caritas/Kathi Zellweger/Pool 

FILE PHOTO 8MAY99 - A band plays military music in a field outside Hamhung city in North Korea, as thousands of workers try to rehabilitate agricultural land damaged by floods, May 8. Over 2,500 workers are repairing a breach in the Kwangpho River and are rebuilding canals and draining fields. The United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) has set up Food-For-Work projects all over famine-struck North Korea and is targetting vulnerable groups, such as workers in recession-hit industrial areas. Workers receive two kilos of wheat per person per day. Picture taken May 8.

ASW/TAN/AA 

North Koreans rehabilitate rice paddy fields May 8, damaged by the flooding of the Kwangpho River, as part of a U.N. World Food Programme "food for work" project in North Korea's second largest city Hamhung. Each person taking part in the scheme receives two kg (4 pounds) of U.S. wheat per day - enough to feed themselves and two dependants. The World Food Programme plans to increase "food for work" projects in the northeast to help reach the general population hit by five years of famine.

ASW/DL 

A malnourished North Korean child naps in the Provincial Children's Centre in Hamhung City, eastern North Korea. The centre cares for about 200 children under the age of five, among them, malnourished infants in desperate need of therapeutic feeding. Although children are receiving food aid many are still in desperate need of attention. Picture taken 15OCT97. 

A malnourished North Korean child naps in the Provincial Children's Centre in Hamhung City, eastern North Korea. The centre cares for about 200 children under the age of five, among them, malnourished infants in desperate need of therapeutic feeding. Although children are receiving food aid many are still in desperate need of attention. Picture taken 15OCT97.

NORTH KOREA