North Korea has reduced the minimum height requirement for military conscripts because the current generation facing call-up was stunted by a deadly 1990s famine, a report said today.  Daily NK, a Seoul-based online newspaper run by North Korean defectors, said the military has cut the minimum height to 142 centimetres from 145 cm. 

All able-bodied North Korean males aged 16-17 must begin mandatory service that lasts about a decade. Women deemed fit must also serve for a shorter period in the 1.2 million-strong military, the world's fourth largest. 

"There were too many short boys who don't meet the previous height requirement... so the military is now accepting all who are taller than 142 cm," said a North Korean source quoted by Daily NK. The average height for South Korean boys of the same age is about 172 cm.