PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Children in Cambodia are suffering malnutrition at a rate comparable to levels in famine-struck North Korea, the U.N. food agency's country director said Tuesday.

Though North Korea is suffering from a simple lack of food, a faltering economy in Cambodia combined with weak health care and education is causing similar levels of malnutrition in children, said Ken Davies, the World Food Program's country director.

``The problem is so bad that it is only a little worse in North Korea,'' Davies said. ``The situation is much worse than most people recognize.''

According to a recent survey, 49 percent of Cambodian children under age 5 are stunted by lack of food and 20 percent suffer from acute malnutrition.

By comparison, a similar survey of North Korean children under 7 found that 65 percent are stunted and 16 percent suffer from acute malnutrition.

The food program is currently supporting 1.7 million hungry Cambodians -- about 15 percent of the population -- with food-for-work and direct assistance programs, but Davies said he fears there are still plenty more that are not getting enough to eat every day.

``There is enough rice. The problem is that people are too poor to access it,'' Davies said. ``The problem is poverty.''

The majority of Cambodian farmers are not producing enough to keep their families fed and are being increasingly saddled with debts incurred when they run out of reserves before harvest, Davies said.

Money-lenders in rural Cambodia typically charge 100 percent interest, which must be paid in rice at harvest time, giving many farmers a handicapped start on the next crop season.

Poor sanitation, lack of health care and ignorance of modern child rearing -- problems left mostly unaddressed by under-funded health and education sectors in Cambodia -- have exacerbated the food security problem, Davies said.

Davies urged the new government to substantially increase annual expenditures on health, education and rural development as a first step in a long-term solution to Cambodia's food crisis.

AP-NY-11-24-98 1546EST