'Cos Kimmie kicked all the food-handing-out-NGO's and UN staffers out of Paradise...The Bush administration has canceled a planned shipment of 25,000 tons of food aid to North Korea later this month, citing concerns that the food will not reach those who need it. "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," the State Department said yesterday.
The U.N. World Food Program (WFP), which distributes foreign aid, has been ordered by the North Koreans to cut most of its staff there by the end of December, a move that will substantially reduce its ability to disburse and monitor aid shipments. Washington sent the first half of a 50,000-ton pledge for 2005 in the spring and had planned to deliver the rest, until Pyongyang's recent decision to expel the majority of the WFP personnel. "We have not procured the 25,000 tons originally scheduled to have been shipped later this month, due to uncertainties about whether the [WFP] emergency feeding operation, to which it was to be delivered, would still be in place to receive it and monitor its distribution," the State Department said.
When Pyongyang announced its decision to expel most of the staff of international organizations in the North, it said that the humanitarian situation in the country has improved dramatically and aid is no longer needed in its present quantity. The WFP said this week that its negotiations with the North Korean government to switch from food aid to development-focused programs and maintain most of its presence have made no progress. "Consultations with major donors are also being held to come up with a solution which is suitable to all stake-holders," the WFP said. The Bush administration's decision to withhold the food aid comes during a recess of six-nation negotiations to persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs, which are expected to resume in January.