North Korea rations G420 of food to each person in April

North Korea doled out 420 grams of food to each person per day in April, the same amount as in the previous month, a news report said Tuesday. Citing the U.N. World Food Program's office in Pyongyang, the Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that last month's daily food ration per capita was unchanged from March though the North marked the 102 birthday of Kim Il-sung, founder of the communist country and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un. The founding father died in 1994, and his birthday is one of the most important holidays in North Korea. The RFA said April's daily food ration was much lower than the 600 grams recommended by the U.N. agency. North Korea's daily food ration, which amounted to 400 grams in January, has been hovering at 402 grams since then. The Washington-based Voice of America (VOA), meanwhile, said the WFP provided 2,405 tons of food aid to the impoverished country last month. The food assistance in April was up 50 percent from March and the largest monthly amount this year, but it was much lower than the 4,093 tons provided during the same month a year earlier, the VOA reported. The WFP has also suspended operations of five out of its seven confectionery factories in North Korea due to a fund shortage, the VOA said. The North has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a widespread famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people.