SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Four years of famine in North Korea have eased after killing up to 3.5 million people, but the situation could worsen if outside aid is cut off, a South Korean relief group said Monday.

Good Friends, a private Buddhist aid group, made the death estimate on the basis of interviews with 2,700 North Korean refugees living in China.

"Mass deaths in North Korea have stopped, but malnutrition remains at the danger level," Rev. Pumnyum, head of the group, said at a news conference.

"Crops this year are expected to be better than last year, which, combined with outside aid, is expected to help ease food shortages considerably," said Pumnyum, who has one name.

A U.S. congressional report last year estimated that up to 2 million North Koreans may have died of starvation. That compares with 220,000 famine-caused deaths reported by North Korea in 1998, and 270,000 by the Seoul government last week.

The aid group said its survey of North Korean refugees in China, conducted between last November and April this year, showed famine in the reclusive communist country easing considerably this year.

Pumnyun estimated that 400,000 North Koreans died of starvation in 1995, 800,000 in 1996, 1.5 million in 1997 and 800,000 in 1998. The deaths this year are expected to drop to 200,000, he said.

"The situation in North Korea is getting better. For example, electricity is now supplied to ordinary homes even in remote border towns," Pumnyun said.

The group also said that at least 300,000 North Korean are living in hiding in China after crossing the border to search for food. North Korea's farming industry collapsed after decades of mismanagement
aggravated by bad weather. North Korea has received about dlrs 1 billion worth of international food aid since 1995.

A 1998 study by the World Food Program, UNICEF and the European Union found that because of long-term food shortages, 62 percent of North Korea's children under 7 years suffer from stunted growth.