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. As of early September 2009, the United States is not providing any aid to North Korea, except for a small medical assistance program. The Obama Administration has said that it would be willing to provide large-scale aid if North Korea takes steps to irreversibly dismantle its nuclear program. 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. The United States and Russia have provided all of the HFO they promised under this "Phase Two" of the Six-Party Talks process. Before the Six-Party process broke down, China and South Korea appeared to be calibrating their energy assistance to progress in disabling Yongbyon. North Korea's failed satellite launch on April 5, 2009, which used ballistic missile-related technology, led to U.N. Security Council condemnation. In response, North Korea said it would abandon the Six-Party Talks, restarted its nuclear facilities and asked international and U.S. inspectors to leave the country. In 2007 and 2008, the United States also provided technical assistance to North Korea to help in the nuclear disablement process. In 2008, Congress took legislative steps to legally enable the President to give expanded assistance for this purpose. In its FY2009 Supplemental Appropriations budget request, the Obama Administration asked for over $150 million for North Korea-related energy and denuclearization assistance. This money would have supplemented existing resources in the event of a breakthrough with North Korea. In separate committee actions, House and Senate appropriators denied these requests. However, they did approve monies for the State Department's general emergency non-proliferation fund that the Administration could use in North Korea. For over a decade, North Korea has suffered from chronic, massive food deficits. Food aid--largely from China, the United States, and South Korea--has been essential in filling the gap. In 2008 and 2009, the U.S. shipped about a third of a planned 500,000 metric ton food aid pledge before disagreements with the North Korean government led to the program's cessation. Food aid to the DPRK has been scrutinized because Pyongyang has resisted making the economic reforms that many feel would help the country distribute food more equitably and pay for food imports. Additionally, the North Korean government restricts the ability of donors to operate in the country. In the past, various sources have asserted that some 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 no known monitoring systems in place. Some have speculated that a desire for increased food donations led Pyongyang to moderate its behavior toward the United States and South Korea in the summer of 2009. If so, the Obama Administration must make a number of decisions, including: whether to resume food aid; if so, whether to condition all or part of its assistance on expansive levels of access and monitoring; and whether to pressure South Korea and China to impose similar conditions on their food aid. This report will be updated periodically to track changes in U.S. provision of aid to North Korea.