By This is an understandable position on why the US government will not re-start food aid to North Korea:
The U.S. has reaffirmed its policy of not resuming food aid to North Korea as long as concerns remain that the government of the North would appropriate the aid for military purposes.
United States Agency for International Development chief Rajiv Shah said regarding discussions of sending food aid to North Korea, USAID has no reliable confirmation that North Korean authorities will not use the food to promote the regime or for other political purposes.
Shah said the agency has highly specific data on the likelihood of food appropriation. He said it would not be possible to decide on resuming food aid until North Korea pledges to distribute the food equally.
USAID halted food aid to North Korea from 2008 and has discussed resuming the assistance since dispatching inspectors to evaluate food demand in the North in May 2011. [KBS Global]
She hasn’t seen...
6:07 pm on September 22nd, 2011 1
Those norK officers are going to get hungry! It’s ok though. KJI still has his caviar and crackers. Let the populace eat cake. They must still think they have it better than everyone else. My god man, the South Koreans are forced to eat (rotten) American potatoes due to lack of rice!
7:21 pm on September 22nd, 2011 2
Kim Jung-il: A simple “pledge” is all it takes for the U.S. to believe me?
Kim, Jong-un: Yes!
Kim Jung-il: What a bunch of American idiots.
3:39 am on September 23rd, 2011 3
I honestly don’t even know why USAID sent food to the DPRK in the first place. It usually goes to the KPA and WPK and when it does go to the general populace, it’s played off as “Yankee reparations for war crimes.” Strangely enough, anti-USA propaganda increases tenfold in the DPRK whenever DPRK-USA relations warm up.
7:19 pm on September 23rd, 2011 4
#2: It’s not about believing KJI, I think it’s about preventing regime collapse and the economic issue that would come from a hard landing.
9:02 am on September 24th, 2011 5
This KBS report is riddled with inaccuracies:
USAID has not rejected the food aid request, they have simply not responded. USAID continues to say that they remain concerned about the effectiveness of monitoring agreements, but have not made it clear what they expect. The previous program in 2008/9 was well-monitored with unprecedented controls (24 hour notice for site visits, Korean-speaking monitors, program offices set up in provincial towns, etc). Also, it was not USAID that shut the program down. The North Koreans themselves terminated the program.