ID :
39371
Wed, 01/07/2009 - 18:58
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/39371
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Latest batch of food aid shipment due in N. Korea this weekend: State Dept By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- The latest food aid shipment from the U.S. will arrive in North Korea later this week, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.
"The next shipment of food aid, totaling 21,000 metric tons, is now expected to
arrive in the DPRK by the end of this week, with its delayed arrival due to
recent rough seas," the department said in a statement, adding the shipment will
be distributed by U.S. nongovernmental organizations.
DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea.
The shipment was initially scheduled to arrive in the North last week.
The U.S. shipped 143,000 tons of food aid to North Korea last year despite
glitches in multilateral talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.
The aid was part of 500,000 tons of humanitarian food aid Washington pledged in
May last year.
The last shipment of 25,000 tons of food aid was made in November as North Korea
resumed disabling its nuclear facilities to respond to the U.S. delisting the
North as a state sponsor of terrorism the previous month.
The latest round of the six-party talks held in early last month, however, failed
to produce an agreement on how to verify what the North declared as its nuclear
facilities in June.
Washington, however, has said it will continue humanitarian food aid to the
impoverished communist state.
"The United States has not stopped food aid to North Korea," the statement said.
The World Food Program said last month that North Korea will need more than
800,000 tons in additional food aid from abroad to feed its 21 million people
this year despite a rather good harvest last year.
A U.S. fact-finding mission last month concluded a North Korean tour on assuring
transparency in distribution of the food aid to the impoverished amid allegations
of misappropriations of the food aid to the military and the power elite.
"A U.S. Government delegation that recently visited North Korea identified
problems in the implementation of the World Food Program (WFP) portion of the
food aid program," the statement said. "The issuance of visas for Korean-speaking
monitors for the WFP program is one issue being discussed, along with other
technical issues."
"We remain in dialogue with North Korea on these issues and will continue working
with the DPRK to implement the agreed terms of our bilateral food aid agreement,"
it said.
hdh@yna.co.kr
"The next shipment of food aid, totaling 21,000 metric tons, is now expected to
arrive in the DPRK by the end of this week, with its delayed arrival due to
recent rough seas," the department said in a statement, adding the shipment will
be distributed by U.S. nongovernmental organizations.
DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea.
The shipment was initially scheduled to arrive in the North last week.
The U.S. shipped 143,000 tons of food aid to North Korea last year despite
glitches in multilateral talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.
The aid was part of 500,000 tons of humanitarian food aid Washington pledged in
May last year.
The last shipment of 25,000 tons of food aid was made in November as North Korea
resumed disabling its nuclear facilities to respond to the U.S. delisting the
North as a state sponsor of terrorism the previous month.
The latest round of the six-party talks held in early last month, however, failed
to produce an agreement on how to verify what the North declared as its nuclear
facilities in June.
Washington, however, has said it will continue humanitarian food aid to the
impoverished communist state.
"The United States has not stopped food aid to North Korea," the statement said.
The World Food Program said last month that North Korea will need more than
800,000 tons in additional food aid from abroad to feed its 21 million people
this year despite a rather good harvest last year.
A U.S. fact-finding mission last month concluded a North Korean tour on assuring
transparency in distribution of the food aid to the impoverished amid allegations
of misappropriations of the food aid to the military and the power elite.
"A U.S. Government delegation that recently visited North Korea identified
problems in the implementation of the World Food Program (WFP) portion of the
food aid program," the statement said. "The issuance of visas for Korean-speaking
monitors for the WFP program is one issue being discussed, along with other
technical issues."
"We remain in dialogue with North Korea on these issues and will continue working
with the DPRK to implement the agreed terms of our bilateral food aid agreement,"
it said.
hdh@yna.co.kr
