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The U.S. is expected to announce some 500,000 tons of food aid to North Korea following receipt from Pyongyang of about 18,000 pages of documents on North Korea's main Yongbyon plutonium-based nuclear facilities.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino on Tuesday said, "I believe an experts meeting is going to be convened in the near future to talk about how to begin detailed implementation¡± of the aid. ¡°If finalized, that formal announcement would be by the State Department."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. is indeed coordinating a detailed plan based on the results of talks a U.S. delegation held with North Korean officials in Pyongyang early this month.
Radio Free Asia reported that talks are under way to give 500,000 tons of food aid to the North, 375,000 tons through the World Food Programme and the rest through civilian organizations.
A diplomatic source in Washington said the aid program is effectively a response to Pyongyang's delivery of documents on the Yongbyon nuclear facilities. The source said the ¡°mood of détente¡± between the two countries seems set to last.
But Perino expressed distrust of North Korea's food aid distribution system, saying President George W. Bush is persuaded that the North Korean government ¡°is certainly diverting food to the military and not giving it to its people.¡± But she claimed the ¡°president's heart hurts¡± at the news that people are starving, ¡°and especially because -- especially for children who are maybe trying to go to school, and it's really hard to study and work and do all the things that you need to do to live if you don't have enough nutrition," the spokeswoman added.
The U.S. and North Korea will soon hold talks to discuss how to monitor food distribution.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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