U.S. suspends food aid to DPRK

WASHINGTON. March 18. KAZINFORM. The United States has decided to suspend its food aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at Pyongyang's request, a spokesman for the State Department said on Tuesday.

"Yes. North Korea (DPRK) has informed the United States that it does not wish to receive additional U.S. food assistance at this time," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said at a regular news briefing, responding to a question whether Pyongyang has said it does not want U.S. food aid. "We will work with U.S. NGOs and the North Korean counterparts to ensure that food that's already been in North Korea is distributed to the intended recipients," he added. Wood said the United States received the notification from the DPRK in recent days. But he did not give a specific date; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. According to the spokesman, the United States has delivered 169,000 metric tons of food to the DPRK in 2008 and 2009. The last shipment of U.S. food aid, which was nearly 5,000 metric tons of vegetable oil and corn soy blend, arrived in the DPRK in late January and is being distributed by U.S. NGOs. The U.S. decision came amid tensions between Washington and Pyongyang over a DPRK plan to launch a satellite into space next month.