As North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un steps up the rate of his hi-tech missile tests, schoolchildren in the hermit kingdom are reportedly being forced to cut class to water crops that are dying in a severe drought.

According to a report on Radio Free Asia’s Korean service, high school and college students in the north of the country have been mandated since mid-May to help water the dry fields from 5am to 10am every day.

“Their classes now begin from 11am,” a North Korean source told the news service, but he added that the drought was too severe to be tackled by manual labour alone and needed state assistance and equipment.