U.S. to Send Tons of Food to North Korea

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- The State Department on Wednesday announced 60,000 metric tons of American food will be sent to North Korea to help avert hunger and starvation.

Spokesman Richard Boucher said the decision was based on reports from the World Food Program's executive director, James Morris, that some 4 million North Koreans were vulnerable and in need of contributions.

The specific items to be sent by the U.S. Agency for International Development will be determined after consultation with the World Food Program, Boucher said in a statement.

Last week, Morris said the program probably would be forced to cut off food aid to 3 million North Koreans in coming weeks because of insufficient donations.

snip>

A second round of arms negotiations has been postponed with no date set. The United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, all of which participate in the talks, are trying to end to North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

North Korea is seeking economic assistance and security guarantees. The Bush administration and its partners have refused to hold talks on what the State Department calls "preconditions."

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said "we hope for an early resumption of talks some time in January."

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-nkorea,0,245221.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[SadEagle]

1. They wouldn't be sending beef, would they?

Boy I am a cynic.

[madrchsod]

3. no ,they`ll be selling it

to the prisons across the country. that`s where most of the out of date and tainted food goes to.

[Scimmio]

9. just about standard operating procedure

Back in the late 1980s, during the Alar/Apple scares across the West, the Federal prison system was inundated with a seemingly unlimited supply of apples. Probably looking at an all-beef party coming up.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. ROFLMAO!! That was my first thought too!

[Jim Sagle]

2. Ya gotta love the timing.

[ParticipatoryDem]

4. Christmas happens once a year

Not even the feds can change that. Except for a few firestations that were forced to remove their trees by the ACLU it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

[2cents]

6. 60K metric tons - that could include a lot of burgers

I wonder if the NK's will say "thanks, but hold the beef"

[jayfish]

7. I Sure Wish We Would Have Done...

something like this with Iraq. Oh well, they only had imaginary WMD.

Jay

[sungkathak]

8. Two standards

Those who has WMD, got food aid. Those who hadn't, got a sanction and invasion. Do you know why.

Because Iraq was a potential threat to Israel, while N.Korea is not.

[bahrbearian]

10. They had Oil

[Philostopher]

11. Didn't see his name in this article ...

But in order to get a neocon into the congressional district in which I live, they appointed our old (Dem) congressman, Tony Hall, to some diplomatic position relating to North Korea. He'd been winning this district for so long, and was so appealing across the board and popular (and well-respected), the Repukes didn't even waste the money to run anybody against him for the last election or so.

Anyway, regardless the political maneuvering that put him in a diplomatic position as regards North Korea ... He was a fairly middle-of-the-road Dem even for Ohio, but his big issue was hunger relief. He said as much as he regretted letting go of the seat, he felt he could truly do something good for people by taking the diplomatic post. Maybe he's been haunting the halls in DC long enough to have the connections to get something decent accomplished, who knows?

[pinto]

12. I hope that's it. Merry Christmas.