North Korea's push for dry-field rice reflects drought concerns: experts

SEOUL — North Korea is stepping up cultivation of dry-field rice, which relies on irrigation or rain rather than flooded paddies, state media reported, in what experts said was a sign of worsening drought. The nuclear-armed country is under multiple sets of sanctions over its weapons programmes and has long struggled with a moribund state-managed economy and chronic food shortages. Elizabeth Salmon, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, said in February that food shorta