North Korea -- U.S. Food Donation

The United States will donate 50,000 metric tons of agricultural commodities through the World Food Program's 2004 emergency feeding operation for the people of North Korea. The United States is providing food aid to help relieve the suffering of the North Korean people despite our concerns about the North Korean government's policies. We remain committed to contributing food aid to help meet urgent humanitarian needs.

U.S. decisions on food aid contributions are based on three criteria: demonstrated need, competing needs elsewhere, and donors' ability to access all vulnerable groups and monitor distribution. The World Food Program informed us that, over the past six months, the DPRK has allowed an increased number of monitoring visits to distribution sites in North Korea and more frequent evaluations of family food security conditions. However, North Korea still fails to meet standards of humanitarian access that apply to and are accepted by other recipients of international food assistance. We plan to continue to discuss with North Korean government officials the importance of allowing humanitarian access consistent with international standards. We will also coordinate with the World Food Program and other donor countries in our efforts to gain better access.

Funding for the 50,000 metric ton donation will come from the U.S. Agency for International Development's PL-480 program. The mix of commodities for the donation will be determined soon in consultation with the World Food Program.

2004/815