• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

United States Delays Procuring Food Aid for North Korea

05 December 2005

Monitoring of World Food Programme must be assured, State Department says

The United States has delayed procuring 25,000 tons of food aid for North Korea because of questions as to whether the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) will be able monitor its distribution.

In a statement released December 1, the State Department said the United States believes there are "serious humanitarian needs" in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.  "But we cannot continue to supply food if we cannot even minimally assure that it will reach its intended recipients," the statement said.

On August 29, Pyongyang informed the WFP that it expected all humanitarian assistance work of international organizations in the country to be terminated by the end of 2005. The North Korean government maintained that because the humanitarian situation in the country had "drastically improved" in recent years such assistance was no longer needed. WFP has informed the donor community that its distribution activities in North Korea will end in the middle of November.

On November 9, Andrew Natsios, the administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which overseas humanitarian aid programs for the United States, announced that the United States would suspend its food aid to North Korea if Pyongyang forces the WFP to end its aid distribution and monitoring activities.  (See related article.)

In June, the United States committed to provide 50,000 metric tons of food to North Korea through WFP; about half of it already has been delivered and distributed by the WFP. The United States has provided about 2 million tons of food aid to North Korea through the WFP since 1995.

According to WFP, about 57 percent of the North Korean population does not get enough food to stay healthy. (See the WFP "Hunger Map.")

For additional information, see U.S. Policy Toward North Korea.

Following is the response to a question taken at the regular State Department press briefing December 1 on food aid to North Korea:

(begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
December 1, 2005

QUESTION TAKEN AT THE DECEMBER 1, 2005 PRESS BRIEFING

North Korea - Food Situation/Food Aid

Question:  What is the status of the second half of the U.S. 50,000-ton food aid commitment for North Korea this year?

Answer:  We have not procured the 25,000 tons originally scheduled to have been shipped later this month due to uncertainties about whether the World Food Program emergency feeding operation to which it was to be delivered would still be in place to receive it and monitor its distribution.

We are continuing to monitor the situation with respect to the WFP presence in North Korea.  We still think there are serious humanitarian needs in North Korea.  But we cannot continue to supply food if we cannot even minimally assure that it will reach its intended recipients.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)