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U.S. Pledges 50,000 Tons of Food to North Korea
The United States pledged 50,000 tons of food aid on Friday for North Korea this year, weeks after the two countries appeared to make some progress toward resolving a two-year-old nuclear weapons standoff. The United States, which is traditionally one of the top food donors to the impoverished, Communist nation, says its aid is independent of its negotiations to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear programs.But the Bush administration acknowledged it would be good if the aid had a positive impact on nuclear negotiations, in which the two governments held their highest-level talks earlier this month. "It's our desire to help the North Korean people," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "If that impresses the North Koreans and makes them adopt a more favorable attitude, then that's good, but our intention is to help the people and not to try to affect the talks." The United States could also pledge more food aid later this year, he added. The aid came in the same week the United States allowed North Korea's U.N. ambassador to attend a conference in Washington, the highest-level visit to the capital by the Pyongyang government during the Bush administration. Last year, the United States pledged North Korea 100,000 tons in food aid, and in 2002 it gave 207,000 tons. In those cases, the donations roughly accounted for at least a fifth of the aid originally appealed for worldwide by the World Food Program, according to State Department figures.
Posted by: Steve White 2004-07-24 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=38854 |