efq
18-03-2009, 06:10 PM
North Korea is refusing to accept food aid from America despite facing chronic shortages, US officials have announced.
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2009/Mar/Week3/15244176.jpg
North Korean school children eat fortified biscuits provided by the UN
The decision by Pyongyang comes amid growing tensions over a planned missile test by the North and a joint military exercise by the South and the United States.
The North says the exercises are preparations for invasion.
And early next month, Pyongyang (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Pyongyang) plans to launch a long-range rocket it insists is for communications purposes but the US says is to test a weapon able to reach its territory.
The US State Department's Robert Wood confirmed that North Korea has told Washington it does not want to receive any additional food assistance.
But he said the US would continue to work with non-governmental groups in the country "to ensure that food that is already in North Korea is distributed to the intended recipients."
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2008/Oct/Week4/15130710.jpg North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il
North Korea (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/North_Korea) has had to rely on international aid to feed its population of 23 million since famine struck in the 1990s.
The secretive and impoverished state is deeply uncomfortable with foreign aid workers heading deep into its countryside, seeing them as potential spies or troublemakers.
It has long sought to have the aid brought to central points and do the distribution itself.
The US and the UN World Food Programme (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/United_Nations_World_Food_Programme) want full control over distribution to make sure the food reaches the most vulnerable and is not, as some suspect, diverted to the military.
A deal agreed in 2007 saw North Korea agree to disable its main nuclear complex in return for one million tonnes of fuel oil and other concessions.
As part of another agreement between the US and Pyongyang in May last year, 169,000 tonnes of food were delivered to North Korea.
Pyongyang has not made any official comment on the reasons for rejecting future aid.http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/North-Korea-Rejects-US-Food-Aid-Amid-Growing-Tensions-With-South-Ahead-Of-Military-Exercise/Article/200903315244144?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_A rticle_Teaser_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15244144_North_Korea_Rejects_US_Food_A id_Amid_Growing_Tensions_With_South_Ahead_Of_Milit ary_Exercise
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2009/Mar/Week3/15244176.jpg
North Korean school children eat fortified biscuits provided by the UN
The decision by Pyongyang comes amid growing tensions over a planned missile test by the North and a joint military exercise by the South and the United States.
The North says the exercises are preparations for invasion.
And early next month, Pyongyang (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Pyongyang) plans to launch a long-range rocket it insists is for communications purposes but the US says is to test a weapon able to reach its territory.
The US State Department's Robert Wood confirmed that North Korea has told Washington it does not want to receive any additional food assistance.
But he said the US would continue to work with non-governmental groups in the country "to ensure that food that is already in North Korea is distributed to the intended recipients."
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2008/Oct/Week4/15130710.jpg North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il
North Korea (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/North_Korea) has had to rely on international aid to feed its population of 23 million since famine struck in the 1990s.
The secretive and impoverished state is deeply uncomfortable with foreign aid workers heading deep into its countryside, seeing them as potential spies or troublemakers.
It has long sought to have the aid brought to central points and do the distribution itself.
The US and the UN World Food Programme (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/United_Nations_World_Food_Programme) want full control over distribution to make sure the food reaches the most vulnerable and is not, as some suspect, diverted to the military.
A deal agreed in 2007 saw North Korea agree to disable its main nuclear complex in return for one million tonnes of fuel oil and other concessions.
As part of another agreement between the US and Pyongyang in May last year, 169,000 tonnes of food were delivered to North Korea.
Pyongyang has not made any official comment on the reasons for rejecting future aid.http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/North-Korea-Rejects-US-Food-Aid-Amid-Growing-Tensions-With-South-Ahead-Of-Military-Exercise/Article/200903315244144?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_A rticle_Teaser_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15244144_North_Korea_Rejects_US_Food_A id_Amid_Growing_Tensions_With_South_Ahead_Of_Milit ary_Exercise