Farmers on the Chongsan-ri Cooperative Farm in Nampho, North Korea, start planting rice for this year, May 12, 2020. AP

North Korea's food security situation is expected to deteriorate in the next four months, according to a U.N. report that cited limited humanitarian access and trade disruptions as key factors leading to the country's widening food gap.

In a joint report released Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) forecast that the North is expected to face a food shortage of around 860,000 tons this year, equivalent to approximately 2.3 months' worth of food consumption.

"Concerns are mounting over the food security situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, due to strained access and the potential impact of trade limitations, which may lead to food gaps," the report on the August to November outlook said, referring to the North by its official name.

North Korea was among six countries added to the list of "hunger hotspots" compared with the agencies' previous report released in March.

The North has tightened border controls and restricted trade to prevent COVID-19 from spreading to the country since the early stages of the pandemic.

"Measures to facilitate the import of bilateral and multilateral food assistance, and/or significant levels of commercial imports, will be required if this gap is to be covered," the report said.

North Korea is known for chronic food shortages, which appear to have been aggravated last year due to back-to-back typhoons and flooding in key farming areas.

At a key party meeting last month, the North's leader Kim Jong-un acknowledged that his country was facing a "tense" food shortage, calling for measures to resolve the problem. (Yonhap)