By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL, Dec 9 (Reuters) - North Korea is expected to suffer a serious grain shortage this year, well short of what it needs, a U.N. official who recently returned from the impoverished state said on Wednesday.

"We do estimate that the DPRK (North Korea) may have to import a bit over 1 million tonnes to cover the needs," said Daniele Donati, U.N. Foood and Agriculture Organisation's emergency operations chief, who went there on an inspection tour state last week.

The FAO estimates that destitute North Korea needs about 5.1 million tonnes of grain a year for food, animal feed and seed.

The shortfall is about the same as last year's in a country where the United Nations says millions do not have enough to eat.

Donati told Reuters in a telephone call from Bangkok the North Korean food shortage was persistent but more or less stable.

"There is reason for concern," he said. He expects the FAO to release a more detailed assessment early next year.

A North Korean long-range rocket launch, widely seen as a missile test, and a separate nuclear test this year stoked criticism that the country should spend more on its citizens and less on weapons. It also soured the mood for the international food donations that Pyongyang relies on to feed its people.

The North has lost out on about 500,000 tonnes of rice aid and about 300,000 tonnes of fertiliser South Korea used to provide each year due to political wrangling with its neighbour.

Donati said the North's farm sector has been hurt by shortages of fertiliser and that use of fertiliser this year marked lows not seen since about 1990.

There was no indication that flooding the North saw in the middle of the year had caused major harm to the harvest, he said.

Pyongyang has tried to keep its humanitarian needs separate from the sputtering nuclear discussions that received new hope when U.S. President Barack Obama sent his first envoy to the North this week in a bid to revive the talks.[nTOE5B7006]

But the North's recent currency revaluation appears to have been met with widespread anger by inflating the price of goods and food for an already impoverished public and slashing the wealth of a burgeoning merchant class.

(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

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