BEIJING (CNN) -- Floods and droughts have devastated North Korean agriculture during the past three years, leading to severe food shortages in the hermit kingdom of 20 million people.

"I think it's reasonable to say that for much of the population (in North Korea), famine is a reality," said David Morton, an official with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).

A nutrition survey by the WFP, the European Union and UNICEF in North Korea last September found 62 percent of the children were stunted -- short for their age -- and severely malnourished due to long-term food deprivation. They also drink contaminated water.

Appeal for aid

The WFP has appealed for 530,000 tons of food aid worth $245 million for North Korea this year, Morton told reporters in Beijing on Saturday. The figure was 600,000 tons in 1998.

"The WFP believes that the humanitarian situation remains very serious," said Morton, who has been based in North Korea since mid-1998. "The aid is justified. The need is certainly there."

Asked to compare the famine in North Korea with that in Ethiopia, Morton said, "It's on the same scale. but it's different. The shortage is very widely, evenly spread, but there's no doubt there's an acute scarcity of food."

WFP food aid would continue to target the most vulnerable group -- children under the age of 7 -- as well as women who are pregnant or breast feeding, and hospital patients, he said.

North Korea also needs tractor fuel, fertilizer and seeds to boost farm output, which has dropped drastically.

"Fertilizer is very urgently needed in the country," Morton said. "Fertilizer would make an immediate impact."

The WFP would help North Koreans address their priorities, including river irrigation, repair of river embankments damaged by floods, reforestation and erosion control, Morton said.

Reuters contributed to this report.