YONHAP NEWS

U.S. to resume food aid to N. Korea

   WASHINGTON, May 16 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. aid agency announced Friday it is resuming food aid to North Korea with an agreement on improved monitoring and access in the communist state to ensure the assistance is reaching the intended recipients.

   "The United States intends to provide the DPRK with 500,000 metric tons in food commodities over the course of a 12-month program beginning in June 2008, with the World Food Program (WFP) to distribute approximately 400,000 tons and U.S. NGOs approximately 100,000 tons," the U.S. Agency for International Development said in a statement.

   DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

   An experts' meeting will convene in Pyongyang in the near future to work out operational matters and begin detailed implementation of the aid program, the agency said.

   The U.S. had suspended assistance to North Korea after Pyongyang in 2005 demanded the WFP cut back its presence in the country, claiming it was producing enough bumper crop and getting enough donations to meet its needs. Monitoring to ensure against food diversion has always been a problem in arranging a U.S. aid program in the North, and WFP's withdrawal had virtually taken away even the basic monitoring requirements.

   The agency said North Korea "agreed on terms for a substantial improvement in monitoring and access in order to allow for confirmation of receipt by the intended recipients."
The food aid will come from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, with commodity mix and delivery schedules to be negotiated in coming weeks, it said.

   The first shipment is expected next month, in light of the urgency of North Korea's food shortfall, said the agency.

   "This program has developed through close coordination and extensive consultation with experts in the South Korean government," it added.

   ldm@yna.co.kr
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