A severe drought that hit North Korea in May has resulted in major damage to the output of this year's harvest, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported on Thursday.

The drought -- a product of what North Korean media described as the lowest average nationwide precipitation since 1917 -- has "cut by half the expected production of a critical harvest," the IFRC said, and "has destroyed crops that would have been harvested between June and September."