North Korea has rejected US food shipments and asked aid groups to leave the country by the end of the month, the US and a leading aid agency said, another sign of mounting tension as Pyongyang plans a rocket launch that Washington sees as cover for a long-range missile test.
US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said on Tuesday that the North gave no reason for refusing to accept US food aid. North Korea faces chronic food shortages and has relied on outside aid to help feed its 24 million people since famine reportedly killed as many as 2 million in the 1990s, a result of natural disasters and mismanagement.
The five aid groups working in the North to distribute US food were asked to leave by the end of this month, said Joy Portella, spokeswoman for the international aid agency Mercy Corps. Their distribution program had been scheduled to run until June.
The announcements came during a North Korean nuclear standoff with the international community, and as the US and others warned that any rocket test would trigger international sanctions.
The North Korean launch is seen as a bid for US President Barack Obama’s attention as six-nation nuclear disarmament talks remain stalled.
South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek told reporters yesterday in Seoul that he sees North Korea’s rejection of US food aid as “an answer” to the international opposition to its plans to launch a rocket and as a protest against joint US-South Korean military drills taking place now across South Korea.
Last May, the US said it would provide 500,000 tons (453,600 tonnes) of food to North Korea amid progress in nuclear negotiations, although Washington said the assistance was not related to the nuclear issue.
As part of that agreement, the US delivered 169,000 tonnes to North Korea, with the most recent shipment of 5,000 tons (4,500 tonnes) of vegetable oil and corn soy blend arriving in January, Wood said.
“We’re obviously disappointed,” Wood told reporters at the State Department. “Clearly, this is food assistance that the North Korean people need. That’s why we’re concerned ... The food situation in North Korea is not a good one.”
North Korea is among the poorest countries in the world, with an average per capita income of US$1,150 in 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, according to South Korea’s central bank.
Portella said the US had been scheduled to provide 400,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea through the UN World Food Program, and 100,000 tonnes through the five aid groups, of which her group, Mercy Corps, was the lead distributor.
The aid groups, she said, had distributed 50,000 tonnes; another approximately 20,000 tonnes were in the country but had yet to be handed out.
She said the aid groups would not distribute the remaining food now. The State Department and the North Koreans, she said, were negotiating about what would happen to it.
A WFP spokeswoman had no comment on North Korea’s decision.
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