Seoul - The World Food Programme warned Thursday that millions of North Koreans face starvation because of higher food prices, a reduction in state rations and rising unemployment, primarily among urban families.

About 2.7 million people on North Korea's western coast were expected to run out of food this month, the UN agency said. All aid to another 1.4 million residents on the east coast might end in November, it added.

A drastic worsening of North Korea's food security means "acute food and livelihood crises" in the affected areas, the World Food Programme said.

"Should urgent food assistance not be provided, this could lead to a humanitarian emergency," it said.

The agency warned in July of significant food shortages in the impoverished communist country that could lead to famine, calling the food crisis the worst in a decade in parts of the country.

Years of mismanagement, natural disasters and the loss of support from the former Soviet Union are the main reasons for North Korea's food shortages, which have lasted for more than a decade. It relies on international aid to feed its people.

The situation has worsened this year with rising food prices, particularly for rice and corn.

In August, the World Food Programme appealed to South Korea to resume its food shipments to the North, but Seoul has yet to make a decision about new aid to its neighbour, with whom it has seen its relations worsen under conservative South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, who took office in February and has taken a harder line toward Pyongyang than his liberal predecessors. (dpa)