Despite security issue, N Korea should be given food: South Korea

Asserting that humanitarian issue should be separated from a security issue, South Korea on Friday said North Korea, which is facing severe drought, should be provided food-aid despite its recent missile launches.

"I think the food issue should be reviewed, irrespective of the security issue, from the humanitarian aspect, especially as the same compatriots," Yonhap News Agency quoted Chung Eui-yong, head of the presidential National Security Office, as saying.

Meanwhile, South Korea is drawing up plans to provide food, possibly including rice, to North Korea in the hope of helping alleviate the situation there and to help keep the stalled negotiating process alive.

North Korea has been criticising South Korea and the US over their joint military training, with the foreign ministry spokesperson saying that South Korean military has "no qualification to vilify" the North over its recent exercises.

Breaking the months of truce, North Korea, earlier this month, test-fired two short-range missiles, just five days after the launch of a barrage of projectiles into the East Sea.

One of the world's poorest nation, North Korea, is facing the worst droughts in decades.

World Food Programme, last month, assessed that the people in North Korea have been hit by the worst harvest in 10 years, due to dry spells, heatwaves and flooding.

The report found worryingly low food consumption levels, limited dietary diversity and families being forced to cut meals or eat less.