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After agreeing to the supply of heavy fuel oil to North Korea, the U.S. is also considering giving it large-scale food aid, chief presidential secretary for national security Baek Jong-chun said Monday. In a meeting with media editors, Baek said, "The U.S. is considering giving a considerable amount of food aid (to the North) purely from a humanitarian viewpoint. I understand that there will be a bilateral meeting to discuss this matter.¡±
On Sunday, a diplomatic source in Washington said now six-party nuclear talks are on the way to disabling North Korea's nuclear facilities, the U.S. is pushing for direct supply of food aid to the North. But the U.S. has reportedly not yet decided how much food it will supply. The World Food Program estimates that North Korea suffered a shortage of 800,000 tons of food last year.
Washington has informed Pyongyang of a plan to send officials to monitor food distribution there, and the response was reportedly positive. A U.S. official said it was ¡°uncertain¡± whether North Korea will ultimately accept the request for some monitoring of distribution, but ¡°consensus has already been reached¡± in principle. The U.S. is also discussing monitoring distribution through a civilian organization such as the Eugene Bell Foundation, which already operates in North Korea.
The U.S. State Department has so far given aid to North Korea through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) rather than directly, considering that North Korea has yet to disable its nuclear facilities. Washington is also apparently thinking of expanding other humanitarian aid such as supply of hospital generators.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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