China sent a half-million tons of food to North Korea, report says - UPI.com

China is quietly ramping up food assistance to North Korea and may have sent as many as 600,000 tons of grain this year, according to a Japanese press report.

The Asahi Shimbun reported Tuesday that Beijing has sent shipments of grain, including corn from June to August, despite North Korea's enforcement of border closures. Pyongyang may also have requested more food assistance and China may be ready to send another 200,000 tons, the report said.

China has also delivered 550,000 tons of fertilizer, the Asahi reported, citing multiple South Korean government sources.

Food delivery to the North over the summer coincided with typhoons and mass flooding that affected the entire country and likely wiped out crops. Leader Kim Jong Un apologized to North Koreans for the hardships they had to endure as a result of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Our people have placed trust, as high as the sky and as deep as the sea in me, but I have failed to always live up to it satisfactorily," Kim said on Oct. 10. "I am really sorry for that."...