U.S. Reviews 60,000 Ton Food Donation to N. Korea

Apart from the nuclear issue, the United States is reviewing whether to send North Korea an additional 60,000 ton food shipment this year on an entire humanitarian basis, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in a briefing Monday.

“We will consider 3 factors in deciding whether to provide additional food aid,” he added.

Ereli said that the U.S. will determine whether to go ahead with the aid after △ reviewing if North Korea really needs food aid at the moment, △ comparing North Korea with other countries that are also in urgent need of food assistance to evaluate priorities, and △ considering whether the distribution of food aid can be monitored to ensure that it gets to vulnerable North Koreans.

“We remain concerned that North Korea has not allowed but restricted the World Food Program to monitor the distribution of food aid. This is a serious matter,” he pointed out.

“The United States is discussing these concerns directly with North Koreans, as well as with the World Food Program and other donors,” Ereli said.

Besides it, the U.S. has already delivered most of a 40,000 ton food donation to North Korea promised this year, the spokesman said.

maypole@donga.com