North Korea welcomes U.S. food aid
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has welcomed the U.S. decision to provide the impoverished nation with food aid.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that the 500,000 tons of food aid would be helpful in addressing in the country’s food shortages and would contribute to promoting the understanding and confidence between the peoples of the two countries.
KCNA also said the North is ready to provide all technical conditions necessary for the food delivery.
The United States said the aid is unrelated to its nuclear disarmament deal with Pyongyang, although both have involved an unusual intensity of U.S. diplomacy with a nation President George W. Bush once included as part of a rhetorical axis of evil.
We don’t see any connection, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. We’re doing this because America is a compassionate nation and the United States and the American people are people who reach out to those in need.
The United States last provided food aid to North Korea in 2005. Further deliveries fell apart in a dispute over a U.S. demand for close oversight of how the aid would be distributed. The United States wants assurances the food won’t be diverted or used improperly by the government of Kim Jong Il.
The new agreement followed weeks of talks over the aid would be monitored.
