United States Envoy Stephen Bosworth held talks on Tuesday in South Korea about North Korea's request for food aid, amid a report that Washington would send a team to Pyongyang next week to assess its needs. Mr Bosworth, the US special envoy for North Korea, said he and his Seoul hosts have "largely reached a common view" on possible US aid, but did not elaborate.
The communist state has asked the United States and a variety of other countries for help as the drought had severely affected its food supplies. Private aid groups and UN organisations say millions face severe shortages. The South's Yonhap news agency said Robert King, the US special envoy on the North's human rights, would lead a delegation to the North next week to assess the extent of food shortages.
"We will be making a decision on that (the visit) in the next few days and it will be announced from Washington," Mr Bosworth told reporters after his closed door meetings with the South's chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung Lac. Some government officials in Seoul are not in favour and even sceptical about the requirements of North Korea. It claims the regime wants to stockpile supplies before the 100th anniversary next year of the birth of founding leader Kim Il Sung.
Source: iWireNews