U.S. Assistance to North Korea: Fact Sheet

This report summarizes U.S. aid to the Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea DPRK, also known as North Korea. It will be updated periodically to track changes in U.S. provision of aid to North Korea. Since 1995, the United States has provided over 1.1 billion, about 60 of which has paid for food aid. About 40 was energy assistance channeled through the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization KEDO, the multilateral organization established in 1994 to provide energy aid in exchange for North Koreas pledge to halt its existing nuclear program. U.S. assistance to North Korea has fallen significantly over the past three years, and was zero in FY2006. The KEDO program was shut down in January 2006. Food aid has been scrutinized because the DPRK government restricts the ability of donor agencies to operate in the country. Compounding the problem is that South Korea and China, by far North Koreas two most important providers of food aid, have little to no monitoring systems in place. This may help explain why, in the summer of 2005, the North Korean government announced it would no longer need humanitarian assistance from the United Nations, including from the World Food Program WFP, the primary channel for U.S. food aid. Part of Pyongyangs motivation appears to be a desire to negotiate a less intrusive monitoring presence. In response, the WFP shut down its operations and the United States has suspended its food aid shipments. The WFP subsequently negotiated a scaled-down development assistance program with the North Korean government. The WFP says that food conditions have worsened for some groups since North Korea introduced economic reforms in 2002. U.S. officials, including President Bush, have indicated that U.S. development assistance might be forthcoming if North Korea begins dismantling its nuclear programs.