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183420
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 01:01
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King to lead U.S. mission to N. Korea on food assessment, rights issues: State Dept.
(ATTN: ADDS Toner's remarks in paras 28-29)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON (Yonhap) - The United States said Friday it will send a delegation to North Korea next week to assess the food situation and discuss human rights conditions in the impoverished communist state.
The mission, led by Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, will travel to North Korea for five days from Tuesday for "food assessment" and to address "appropriate human rights issues," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at a daily news briefing.
It is the first time that North Korea has agreed to admit a U.S. human rights envoy.
Neither King, appointed in 2009, nor his predecessor, Jay Lefkowitz, has been to the reclusive North. The same goes for Marzuki Darusman, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on North Korean human rights, and his predecessor, Vitit Muntarbhorn.
Jon Brause, USAID deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and food security experts will accompany King to "conduct a field evaluation of food-security needs" and "travel regionally" and "meet with officials in Pyongyang as well," Toner said.
The spokesman said that the trip to North Korea "doesn't necessarily mean that we will provide food assistance, but it's the first step in evaluating the need."
Asked if the mission will be provided proper access for the assessment, Toner said, "That's obviously a big concern and one of the reasons why, frankly, we've waited this long to get a team in there, because we needed those assurances. We are assured that they will have the proper access ... to see if there's ways to set up monitoring systems to make sure that it reaches the proper end uses."
U.S. food aid to the North was suspended in March 2009 amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests and controversy over the transparency of food distribution.
Washington pledged to provide 500,000 tons of food in 2008, but delivered only 169,000 tons before the shipments were suspended.
"It's important to note that the last program of food assistance in North Korea was abruptly suspended in March of 2009," Toner said. "This evaluation team will obviously build on the work, the assessments already performed by the World Food Program as well as other U.S. nongovernmental organizations."
North Korea recently appealed to the U.S. and other countries for food aid.
The United Nations also last month appealed for 430,000 tons of food for North Korea to feed 6 million people stricken by floods and severe winter weather. A U.N. monitoring team concluded a fact-finding mission in North Korea in early April.
South Korea appears to be less willing to resume food aid as critics say North Korea is exaggerating its food shortages to hoard food in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the birth of its late leader, Kim Il-sung, in April next year.
The conservative Lee Myung-bak administration suspended food aid to North Korea due to the North's nuclear programs, although Lee's liberal predecessors had shipped more than 400,000 tons of food and fertilizer each to the North annually.
Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, said in Seoul earlier this week that Seoul and Washington have reached "a common view" on the issue of possible food aid to North Korea, without elaborating, amid reports that Washington is more positive on the food aid than South Korea.
King told a media roundtable last month that the U.S. will consult South Korea closely in making any decision on the food aid to North Korea, but added, "The United States can make an independent decision."
King, meanwhile, will raise human rights issues in North Korea, Toner said.
"Given his capacity as human rights ambassador, he will raise appropriate human rights issues," the spokesman said.
King will also ask North Korea to release an American citizen held since November for proselytizing.
"I can also imagine that he'll raise the issue of our American citizen who's being currently held in North Korea," Toner said.
North Korea last month said it would soon indict Jun Yong-su, without specifying his crime.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter failed to bring back Jun when he visited Pyongyang late last month. In August, he brought back another American citizen, Aijalon Gomes, who was sentenced to eight years in a labor and re-education camp and fined US$700,000 for illegal entry.
In a related move, the White House said earlier in the day that North Korea will be high on the agenda next week when President Barack Obama attends a meeting of leaders from eight advanced economies.
"The G-8 leaders will talk about a range of political and security issues," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, said in a conference call. "Traditionally this has included everything from nonproliferation, North Korea, Iran, terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy. This year there will also be an extensive discussion of developments in the Middle East and North Africa as well."
Obama will attend the G-8 summit in Deauville, France, late next week as part of a weeklong European tour that will also bring him to Ireland, Britain and Poland. The G-8 countries are the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is currently on a tour of northeastern China, his third visit within a year, apparently to seek economic cooperation and China's support for the third-generation power transition to his youngest son, Jong-un.
The 28-year-old heir apparent last year was appointed vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party, which oversees the 1.2 million-strong military.
Toner said he had no information on the North Korean leader's trip to China.
"On the issue of North Korean officials traveling to Beijing, I just would refer you to the Chinese government for details," he said. "We don't have any confirmation. We have no information."
International talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions have been in limbo for more than two years over U.N. sanctions imposed after the North's nuclear and missile tests and two deadly border attacks that killed 50 South Koreans last year.
South Korea has demanded North Korea's apology for the provocations before any resumption of the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. Pyongyang denies involvement in the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, and claims the attack on Yeonpyeong Island was provoked by South Korea's artillery exercises near the sea border.
In an incremental approach toward the nuclear talks' resumption, South Korea and China recently called on North Korea to have a bilateral nuclear dialogue with South Korea and then another bilateral discussion with the U.S. ahead of any plenary session of the six-party talks. The North has not yet responded to the proposal.
China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, early this week blocked the release of a U.N. report that alleges that North Korea has continued proliferating missiles and their parts to Iran and other countries in violation of international sanctions. All 15 Security Council members need to sign it before its release.
Iran has denied the report, which alleged it received missile technology shipments from North Korea through a third country, which diplomats say is China. Tehran insists it has sufficient technology to develop missiles on its own.
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON (Yonhap) - The United States said Friday it will send a delegation to North Korea next week to assess the food situation and discuss human rights conditions in the impoverished communist state.
The mission, led by Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, will travel to North Korea for five days from Tuesday for "food assessment" and to address "appropriate human rights issues," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at a daily news briefing.
It is the first time that North Korea has agreed to admit a U.S. human rights envoy.
Neither King, appointed in 2009, nor his predecessor, Jay Lefkowitz, has been to the reclusive North. The same goes for Marzuki Darusman, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on North Korean human rights, and his predecessor, Vitit Muntarbhorn.
Jon Brause, USAID deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and food security experts will accompany King to "conduct a field evaluation of food-security needs" and "travel regionally" and "meet with officials in Pyongyang as well," Toner said.
The spokesman said that the trip to North Korea "doesn't necessarily mean that we will provide food assistance, but it's the first step in evaluating the need."
Asked if the mission will be provided proper access for the assessment, Toner said, "That's obviously a big concern and one of the reasons why, frankly, we've waited this long to get a team in there, because we needed those assurances. We are assured that they will have the proper access ... to see if there's ways to set up monitoring systems to make sure that it reaches the proper end uses."
U.S. food aid to the North was suspended in March 2009 amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests and controversy over the transparency of food distribution.
Washington pledged to provide 500,000 tons of food in 2008, but delivered only 169,000 tons before the shipments were suspended.
"It's important to note that the last program of food assistance in North Korea was abruptly suspended in March of 2009," Toner said. "This evaluation team will obviously build on the work, the assessments already performed by the World Food Program as well as other U.S. nongovernmental organizations."
North Korea recently appealed to the U.S. and other countries for food aid.
The United Nations also last month appealed for 430,000 tons of food for North Korea to feed 6 million people stricken by floods and severe winter weather. A U.N. monitoring team concluded a fact-finding mission in North Korea in early April.
South Korea appears to be less willing to resume food aid as critics say North Korea is exaggerating its food shortages to hoard food in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the birth of its late leader, Kim Il-sung, in April next year.
The conservative Lee Myung-bak administration suspended food aid to North Korea due to the North's nuclear programs, although Lee's liberal predecessors had shipped more than 400,000 tons of food and fertilizer each to the North annually.
Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, said in Seoul earlier this week that Seoul and Washington have reached "a common view" on the issue of possible food aid to North Korea, without elaborating, amid reports that Washington is more positive on the food aid than South Korea.
King told a media roundtable last month that the U.S. will consult South Korea closely in making any decision on the food aid to North Korea, but added, "The United States can make an independent decision."
King, meanwhile, will raise human rights issues in North Korea, Toner said.
"Given his capacity as human rights ambassador, he will raise appropriate human rights issues," the spokesman said.
King will also ask North Korea to release an American citizen held since November for proselytizing.
"I can also imagine that he'll raise the issue of our American citizen who's being currently held in North Korea," Toner said.
North Korea last month said it would soon indict Jun Yong-su, without specifying his crime.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter failed to bring back Jun when he visited Pyongyang late last month. In August, he brought back another American citizen, Aijalon Gomes, who was sentenced to eight years in a labor and re-education camp and fined US$700,000 for illegal entry.
In a related move, the White House said earlier in the day that North Korea will be high on the agenda next week when President Barack Obama attends a meeting of leaders from eight advanced economies.
"The G-8 leaders will talk about a range of political and security issues," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, said in a conference call. "Traditionally this has included everything from nonproliferation, North Korea, Iran, terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy. This year there will also be an extensive discussion of developments in the Middle East and North Africa as well."
Obama will attend the G-8 summit in Deauville, France, late next week as part of a weeklong European tour that will also bring him to Ireland, Britain and Poland. The G-8 countries are the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is currently on a tour of northeastern China, his third visit within a year, apparently to seek economic cooperation and China's support for the third-generation power transition to his youngest son, Jong-un.
The 28-year-old heir apparent last year was appointed vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party, which oversees the 1.2 million-strong military.
Toner said he had no information on the North Korean leader's trip to China.
"On the issue of North Korean officials traveling to Beijing, I just would refer you to the Chinese government for details," he said. "We don't have any confirmation. We have no information."
International talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions have been in limbo for more than two years over U.N. sanctions imposed after the North's nuclear and missile tests and two deadly border attacks that killed 50 South Koreans last year.
South Korea has demanded North Korea's apology for the provocations before any resumption of the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. Pyongyang denies involvement in the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, and claims the attack on Yeonpyeong Island was provoked by South Korea's artillery exercises near the sea border.
In an incremental approach toward the nuclear talks' resumption, South Korea and China recently called on North Korea to have a bilateral nuclear dialogue with South Korea and then another bilateral discussion with the U.S. ahead of any plenary session of the six-party talks. The North has not yet responded to the proposal.
China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, early this week blocked the release of a U.N. report that alleges that North Korea has continued proliferating missiles and their parts to Iran and other countries in violation of international sanctions. All 15 Security Council members need to sign it before its release.
Iran has denied the report, which alleged it received missile technology shipments from North Korea through a third country, which diplomats say is China. Tehran insists it has sufficient technology to develop missiles on its own.
