By Josh Smith
SEOUL (Reuters) -&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean leader&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong Un kicked off a&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;of ruling party officials to discuss improving the country's&nbsp;economy&nbsp;and agricultural sector, state media reported on Monday, as&nbsp;fears&nbsp;of&nbsp;food&nbsp;shortages&nbsp;and a humanitarian crisis grow.
International experts say&nbsp;food&nbsp;insecurity has worsened in the isolated nation&nbsp;amid&nbsp;sanctions and COVID-19 lockdowns.
Kim&nbsp;oversaw the seventh enlarged plenary&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on Sunday as it reviewed rural development projects, state news agency KCNA reported.
On its first day the gathering approved agenda items, KCNA reported, while providing few details. The&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;is ongoing, the report added.
In announcing the&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;in February, KCNA said it was "a very important and urgent task to establish the correct strategy for the development of agriculture."
The&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean&nbsp;food&nbsp;situation appears to have deteriorated, South Korea said this month, with officials in Seoul pointing to the&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;as a de facto acknowledgement of serious&nbsp;shortages.
Last month the U.S.-based 38&nbsp;North&nbsp;programme, which monitors&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea, said in a report that "food&nbsp;availability has likely fallen below the bare minimum with regard to human needs," with&nbsp;food&nbsp;insecurity at its worst since the famines of the 1990s.
North&nbsp;Korea is under strict international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, and in recent years its limited border trade was virtually choked off by self-imposed lockdowns aimed at preventing COVID-19.
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(Reporting by Josh Smith. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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North Korea's Kim convenes meeting to improve economy amid fears of food shortages