Floods in North Korea in recent weeks have affected 437,000 people and damaged more than one-fifth of the country’s rice crop, according to official North Korean estimates, the UN’s food relief agency said on Friday“According to figures from the North Korean agriculture ministry, 223,381 hectares of rice, corn, and soja have been damaged, or more than 20 percent of rice crops, and 15 percent of corn fields,” said World Food Programme spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume. The reclusive communist state had so far reported about 300 people dead or missing after torrential rain earlier this month, 300,000 homeless and 11 percent of the grain harvest - equivalent to 450,000 tonnes - lost.