1.   Humanitarian agencies point out that two of its neighbors, China and Japan, have surplus rice in storage.

2.   Japanese storehouses are overflowing with surplus rice, some of it starting to rot.

3.   So Chung On, a spokesman for North Korea in Japan, noted that Japan has huge stocks of surplus rice in storage.

4.   But a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Japan has no stocks of surplus rice, as it did when North Korea first requested aid last summer.

5.   In addition to North Korea, Japan will provide surplus rice to Nepal and Laos, which are also faced with serious food shortages, government officials said Tuesday.

6.   In Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda told reporters Wednesday that Japan no longer has surplus rice to donate to North Korea.

7.   Japan has also come under criticism recently for hoarding vast quantities of surplus rice instead of sending it to North Korea.

8.   In a rare admission of food shortages, hardline communist North Korea Friday asked for a loan of surplus rice from its wealthy but estranged neighbor Japan.

9.   Farm groups, including the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, have warned they would not purchase surplus rice unless prices are brought down to levels of corn.

10.   Japan on Tuesday floated the controversial idea of giving developing countries surplus rice, which the economic superpower was forced to import under a multilateral agreement on freer trade.