SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's grain imports from China slipped 16.3 percent on year in the first eight months of this year, in an apparent sign that the North may diversify its supply channels of grain, a Seoul researcher said Saturday.

   North Korea imported 181,264 tons of rice, flour, corn and other grains from China in the eight-month period, compared with 216,535 tons for the same period last year, said Kwon Tae-jin of the state-run Korea Rural Economic Institute.

   The decline in grain imports from China may be attributed to a rise in food aid from China and purchases from non-China markets such as Europe and South America, Kwon said.

   "Including imports from non-China markets, North Korea's total grain imports appeared to rise this year," Kwon said in a report posted on his Web site, adding Pyongyang may "diversify its import channels."

   North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un has stressed the importance of food production in the two personal statements he has made to his people this year.
Pyongyang has relied on outside food aid to feed its population of 24 million since natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy in the mid-1990s.

   South Korea halted its unconditional state aid to the North in 2008, linking food aid to progress on Pyongyang's nuclear dismantlement. Seoul has continued to selectively approve humanitarian and medical assistance to Pyongyang from religious and private aid groups.

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