C AMBODIA is to lease two plots of land to North Korea to grow crops, the Economic Information Daily said on Thursday.

The newspaper said in a report from Phnom Penh that Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry had agreed to lease 20,000 hectares (49,400 acres) in the country's northeast to a North Korean firm to grow rubber, coffee and oil-bearing crops.

The ministry also planned to lease 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) near Phnom Penh for agricultural use, but gave no details