Friday, Jun 24, 2005
U.S. delivers food aid to North Korea
WASHINGTON: The United States has said it has donated 50,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea, but denied it was an allurement to bring Kim Jong-Il's regime back to stalled nuclear talks. The new donation came in response to a World Food Programme (WFP) warning that a new crisis could be looming similar to the famine which devastated North Korea in the 1990s.
"The United States will be donating, in response to the WFP appeal, 50,000 metric tonnes of agricultural commodities for North Korea," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said on Wednesday. He said the U.S. is also prepared to support targeted health interventions for children and small-scale food security projects in North Korea. The United Sates supplied 50,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea in 2004 and 100,000 tonnes the year before. Top U.S. officials denied that aid is linked to the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programme.
"It is not related to the six-party talks; our decisions are made on humanitarian considerations," Mr. Ereli said. "It is a humanitarian act based on need." White House spokesman Scott McClellan added: "The President has said, he does not believe food should be used as a diplomatic weapon." The U.S. has never had diplomatic ties with North Korea and has been locked in a standoff with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programmes. — PTI
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