North Korea's government food distribution system will run dry in May and put one-quarter of the country's 24 million residents at risk of starvation, the U.N. World Food Program said in an assessment that may influence whether the U.S. and other countries provide assistance to the country.

The agency said North Korea's chronically undernourished people are facing a tougher-than-usual springtime due to the effects on crops of flooding last year and extreme cold this winter. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease since December also damaged livestock production.

'Vulnerable members of society are currently facing increasing shocks to their daily coping strategies, leaving them on a knife edge,' the WFP said in a statement and report sent to diplomats in donor countries Thursday.

Dire reports about North Korea's food situation are common. And so is the political dilemma over whether to help because previous international donations have been re-directed by North Korea's authoritarian regime, led by dictator Kim Jong Il, away from ordinary citizens to the country's military and elite.

But signs have grown that the current situation is worse than in recent years. The North's government recently warned citizens several times that food problems are acute, though it also told them that food shortages are common worldwide.

North Korean diplomats this year also asked for food aid from more countries than before, including African countries poorer than it. The WFP reported that its investigators received 'unprecedented access' to the country during visits this month and last.

Daily rations in North Korea have been reduced to 360 grams a day, less than half the country's average, a diplomat from a Western country who was part of the WFP investigation said in an interview.

At one hospital visited by WFP investigators, 136 children were being treated for malnutrition and 11 were in the most severe stage of hunger, able only to take intravenous fluids and eat high-nutrition biscuits, none of which were available.

'They really were putting the hard sell on. It was awful,' the diplomat said . .

U.S. officials have said they will scrutinize the WFP's report. Some congressional leaders have expressed skepticism about North Korea's desperation.

At a U.S. congressional hearing on North Korea earlier this month, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said: 'Fast approaching is the 100th anniversary next year of the birth of Kim Jong Il's father, and there is the danger that aid provided would be diverted for this spectacle.'

Food aid to the North was a topic when deputy foreign ministers from the U.S. and South Korea met in Seoul earlier this month. At that time, they said they were waiting for the WFP's report.

In the report, the WFP said its investigators were able to interview people in 122 North Korean households, spread through all nine of its provinces. They visited hospitals and collected data on 272 malnourished children under the age of 5.

The WFP said the most critical months for food in the North will be May, June and July. It proposed assistance of 297,000 tons of cereal products over the next five months to about 6 million people─mainly children, young mothers and the elderly─who are at most risk of starvation. The report also proposed sending 137,000 tons of fortified blended food.

The report didn't say how much such assistance would cost. The proposed assistance program amounts to approximately 5% of the 5.5 million tons of rice and cereal grains that outside experts estimate North Korea needs to produce annually to feed its people.

The North Korean government late last year estimated it would buy 325,000 tons of cereal products from outside the country. But it cut the estimate to 200,000 tons early this year, citing high international food prices.

In another sign that the government is scrambling to reduce its burden, it also recently moved four of the 14 districts in the capital city of Pyongyang to the jurisdiction of a less-powerful provincial district. That move cut off tens of thousands of people from food and other privileges granted to residents of the city, according to news agencies in Seoul run by North Korean defectors.

联合国世界粮食计划署(U.N. World Food Program)在一份评估报告中说，朝鲜的政府食品分配体系今年5月将无粮可发，届时朝鲜2,400万人口中的四分之一将面临遭遇饥荒的危险。这份报告可能会对美国和其他国家是否决定向朝鲜提供援助产生影响。

世界粮食计划署说，长期营养不良的朝鲜人民正面临比往年更严峻的春季，因为去年的洪水造成了农作物减产，而刚刚过去的这个冬天又特别寒冷。去年12月以来爆发的口蹄疫也减少了家畜出栏量。

世界粮食计划署周四在一份声明及送给各捐助国外交官的报告中说，朝鲜社会的弱势群体目前正面临着越来越严峻的日常生计问题，他们的生命系于一线。

国际机构就朝鲜食品供应形势发表严峻的报告是常有的事。但对国际社会来说，是否向朝鲜提供食品援助在政治上也是个常常需要面对的两难问题，因为以往提供的国际捐助食品都被朝鲜政府发送给了不同对象，本来提供给普通老百姓的食品被转给了军队和国家的统治精英。

但有迹象显示朝鲜目前的食品供应形势比最近几年都要严峻。朝鲜政府近日曾数次警告国内百姓说，食品问题严峻，但它也对老百姓说食品短缺是个全球普遍问题。

朝鲜外交官们今年还向多于往年的国家发出了食品援助请求，一些比朝鲜还穷的非洲国家也被要求提供援助。世界粮食计划署的报告说，该机构调查人员上月和本月访问朝鲜时，他们被允许考察的地方之广是“史无前例的”。

一位西方国家外交官在接受采访时说，朝鲜每日的食品配给量已经降至360克，不足历年平均水平的一半。这位外交官参加了世界粮食计划署此次在朝鲜的调查。

在世界粮食计划署调查人员访问过的一所医院，有136名儿童因营养不良在接受治疗，其中11人处于最严重的饥饿状况，他们只能接受静脉注射和吃高营养的饼干，而这两样东西医院都没有。

这位西方外交官说，朝鲜是以此来强烈要求国际社会提供援助。他说：医院的情况非常可怕。

美国官员说，他们将密切关注世界粮食计划署的报告。一些国会领导人对朝鲜的绝望处境表示怀疑。

本月初美国国会举行的朝鲜问题听证会上，佛罗里达州众议员、众议院外交事务委员会主席罗斯-莱赫蒂宁（Ileana Ros-Lehtinen）说，就在明年，金正日的父亲百岁诞辰很快就要到来。提供的援助有被转用于相关庆典仪式的风险。

对于朝鲜的粮食援助是本月美韩双方副外长在首尔会面时讨论的一个议题。当时双方说正在等待世界粮食计划署的报告。

在这份报告中世界粮食计划署说，该机构的调查人员得以访问分布在朝鲜全部九个道的122户家庭的成员。他们还访问了医院，搜集了272名五岁以下营养不良儿童的数据。

世界粮食计划署说，朝鲜最缺粮的时期是5月至7月。计划署建议未来五个月向大约600万人提供29.7万吨的谷物援助，对象主要是严重遭受饥饿威胁的儿童、年轻母亲和老人。该报告还建议援助13.7万吨的强化混合食品。

报告没有说这些援助的成本有多少。专家此前低估了为了养活国民朝鲜每年所需产粮的数量，缺口为550万吨的大米和谷物。而计划署建议的援助大约占到了上述缺口的5%。

朝鲜政府去年年底估计会从国外购买32.5万吨谷物。但是今年年初又将估计量削减至20万吨，理由是国际粮价太高。

还有一个迹象表明政府正在努力减轻负担。最近朝鲜政府将首都平壤的14个区中的四个划给了一个经济较不发达的道来管理。据逃离朝鲜的人在首尔运营的新闻社报道，上述行政区划的变动切断了数万人此前享受的平壤居民才有的食品和其它特殊福利。