Since 1995, the United States has provided North Korea with over $1.2 billion in assistance,
about 60% of which has paid for food aid and about 40% for energy assistance. U.S. aid fell
significantly in the mid-2000s, bottoming out at zero in 2006.
The Bush Administration resumed energy aid in the fall of 2007, after progress was made in the
Six-Party Talks over North Korea?s nuclear program. The Six-Party Talks involve North Korea,
the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. The United States and other countries
began providing heavy fuel oil (HFO) in return for Pyongyang freezing and disabling its
plutonium-based nuclear facilities in Yongbyon. By the second week of December 2008, the
United States had provided all of the 200,000 MT of HFO it had promised under this ?Phase
Two? of the Six-Party Talks process. The talks themselves came to a standstill in December over
disagreement on verification procedures. The other countries that agreed to provide HFO are
continuing their shipments, as they appear to be calibrating their assistance to North Korea?s
progress in disabling Yongbyon, which continued to take place as of mid-December 2008.
The United States also provides technical assistance to North Korea to help in the nuclear
disablement process, a role that could be expanded should North Korea move to dismantle its
nuclear facilities. In 2008, Congress took legislative steps to legally enable the President to give
such assistance.
For over a decade, North Korea has suffered from chronic, massive food deficits. Foreign
assistance ? largely from China, the United States, and South Korea ? has been essential in filling
the gap. Throughout 2008, United Nations officials issued increasingly urgent calls for
international donations of food to avert a ?serious tragedy? in North Korea, as hunger has
deepened and expanded. In May 2008, the Bush Administration announced it would resume food
assistance to North Korea by providing 500,000 metric tons (MT) of food, 80% of which is to be
channeled through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The rest is to be sent
through a consortium of non-governmental organizations.
Food aid to the DPRK has been scrutinized because since the end of famine conditions of the
mid-1990s, Pyongyang has resisted taking the steps that many experts feel would help the country
distribute food more equitably and pay for food imports to make up for its domestic shortfall.
Additionally, the North Korean government restricts the ability of most donor agencies to operate
in the country, placing some areas off limits and restricting monitoring activities. In the past,
various sources have asserted that some?perhaps substantial amounts?of the food assistance
going to North Korea is routinely diverted for resale in private markets or other uses.
Compounding the problem, China, North Korea?s largest source of food aid, has little to no
monitoring systems in place. The Bush Administration?s latest food aid pledge came after
Pyongyang agreed to loosen its restrictions on access and monitoring. However, as of mid-
December 2008, the WFP portion of the program had been virtually suspended due to differences
between the U.S. and North Korean governments over implementing the agreement.
Finally, in 2008, the Bush Administration began a new, $4 million program to provide assistance
to several rural and provincial hospitals in North Korea.
This report will be updated periodically to track changes in U.S. provision of aid to North Korea.