The floods that struck North Korea last month have had a much more devastating effect than Pyongyang’s state media have reported, with livestock deaths and a disrupted ration system adding to widespread food shortages, according to the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

North Korea has a history of exaggerating damage from natural disasters in order to win more aid from the outside world – which many analysts suspect is then diverted to the military – but this does not appear to be the case this time.