U.N. relief agency plans to reopen office in N. Korea

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- A United Nations relief agency is planning to reopen its office in North Korea, an official at South Korea's foreign ministry said Wednesday.
Valerie Amos, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), is scheduled to visit North Korea around October to discuss details on reopening the Pyongyang office, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The agency shuttered its operations in Pyongyang in 2005 at the request of the North.
"It is correct that the OCHA has decided to reopen its office in Pyongyang, although I don't know the exact date of the reopening," the official said.
North Korea is reportedly facing the growing threat of a humanitarian crisis because of chronic food shortages caused by years of economic mismanagement and poor weather. Early this month, the European Union decided to send emergency food aid to feed 650,000 North Koreans.