Foreign Assistance to North Korea


Book Description

Since 1995, the United States has provided over $1 billion in foreign assistance to the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea), about 60% of which has taken the form of food aid, and about 40% in the form of energy assistance channeled through the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO). Additionally, the Bush Administration has proposed offering North Korea broad economic development assistance in exchange for Pyongyang verifiably dismantling its nuclear program and cooperating on other security-related issues. Although the President has considerable flexibility to offer some forms of short term development assistance, longer term aid would likely require congressional action. Since the current North Korean nuclear crisis erupted in October 2002, when North Korea reportedly admitted that it has a secret uranium enrichment nuclear program, the dollar amount of U.S. aid has fallen by an order of magnitude. No U.S. funds have been provided to KEDO since FY2003, and the Bush Administration's position is that it would like to permanently end the KEDO program. U.S. food aid also has fallen considerably in recent years. This report describes and assesses U.S. aid programs to North Korea, including the controversies surrounding the programs, their relationship to the larger debate over strategy and objectives toward the DPRK, and policy options. The roles of China, South Korea, and Japan in providing assistance to North Korea are discussed, highlighting the likelihood that any dramatic decrease in U.S. aid to North Korea may have only marginal effects without the cooperation of these countries, particularly China and South Korea. This report will be updated as circumstances warrant.




Foreign Assistance


Book Description







Foreign Assistance to North Korea


Book Description

Since 1995, the United States has provided over $1 billion in foreign assistance to the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea), about 60% of which has taken the form of food aid, and about 40% in the form of energy assistance channeled through the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO). Additionally, the Bush Administration has proposed offering North Korea broad economic development assistance in exchange for Pyongyang verifiably dismantling its nuclear program and cooperating on other security-related issues. Although the President has considerable flexibility to offer some forms of short term development assistance, longer term aid would likely require congressional action. Since the current North Korean nuclear crisis erupted in October 2002, when North Korea reportedly admitted that it has a secret uranium enrichment nuclear program, the dollar amount of U.S. aid has fallen by an order of magnitude. No U.S. funds have been provided to KEDO since FY2003, and the Bush Administration's position is that it would like to permanently end the KEDO program. U.S. food aid also has fallen considerably in recent years. Food has been provided to help North Korea alleviate chronic, massive food shortages that began in the early 1990s and that led to severe famine in the mid-1990s that killed an estimated 1-2 million North Koreans. Food aid to North Korea has come under criticism because the DPRK government restricts the ability of donor agencies to operate in the country, making it difficult to assess how much of each donation actually reaches its intended recipients and how much is diverted for resale in private markets or to the military. Compounding the problem is that South Korea and China, by far North Korea's two most important providers of food, send almost all of their aid directly to North Korea with virtually no monitoring. The WFP says that food conditions have worsened since North Korea introduced economic reforms in 2002. The Administration appears to be loosely adhering to its DPRK food aid policy (i.e. it will provide base levels of food assistance to North Korea) with more to come only if the DPRK allows greater access and monitoring. After announcing the policy in February 2003, the Administration announced a new tranche of food aid, despite only marginal improvements on the ground. New North Korean restrictions in 2004 are likely to complicate U.S. policy. A decision on food aid for 2005 has yet to be reached. The North Korean Human Rights Act (P.L. 108-333) includes hortatory language calling for "significant increases" above current levels of U.S. support for humanitarian assistance to be conditioned upon "substantial improvements" in transparency, monitoring, and access. This report describes and assesses U.S. aid programs to North Korea, including the controversies surrounding the programs, their relationship to the larger debate over strategy and objectives toward the DPRK, and policy options. The roles of China, South Korea, and Japan in providing assistance to North Korea are discussed, highlighting the likelihood that any dramatic decrease in U.S. aid to North Korea may have only marginal effects without the cooperation of these countries, particularly China and South Korea. This report will be updated as circumstances warrant.




U.S. Assistance to North Korea


Book Description

This report summarizes U.S. assistance to the Democratic People's 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. A more extended description and analysis of aid to North Korea, including assistance provided by other countries, is provided in CRS Report RL31785, Foreign Assistance to North Korea. Since 1995, the United States has provided North Korea with over $1.1 billion in assistance, 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 Korea's 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 Korea's two most important providers of food aid, have little to no monitoring systems in place. Since North Korea tested several missiles in July 2006, South Korea has suspended most official humanitarian assistance. 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 Pyongyang's motivation appears to have been a desire to negotiate a less intrusive monitoring presence. In response, the WFP negotiated a drastically scaled-down development assistance program with the North Korean government. Since then, the United States has not provided any food aid.




Assistance to North Korea


Book Description

This report summarizes U.S. assistance to the Democratic People's 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.




U.S. Assistance to North Korea: Fact Sheet


Book Description

Since 1995, the U.S. has provided over $1 billion in foreign assistance to the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea), about 60% of which has taken the form of food aid, and about 40% in the form of energy assistance channeled through the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO). Additionally, the Bush Administration has proposed offering North Korea broad economic development assistance in exchange for Pyongyang verifiably dismantling its nuclear porgram and cooperating on other security-related issues. U.S. aid to North Korea has been controversial since its inception, and the controversy has been intimately linked to the larger debate over the most effective strategy for dealing with the DPRK.




Crs Report for Congress


Book Description

Should the United States resume food, energy, and/or denuclearization assistance to North Korea? This is the major issue facing Congress in considering the provision of aid to Pyongyang. Between 1995 and 2008, the United States provided North Korea with over $1.3 billion in assistance: just over 50% for food aid and about 40% for energy assistance. Since early 2009, the United States has provided virtually no aid to North Korea. In late February 2012, after bilateral talks with the United States, North Korea announced a moratorium on long-range missile launches, nuclear tests, and nuclear activities (including uranium enrichment) at its Yongbyon nuclear facilities. It also said it would allow international nuclear inspectors to return to North Korea. The United States announced it would provide North Korea with 240,000 metric tons (MT) of food aid. However, two and a half week later, the agreement appeared in jeopardy after North Korea announced that in April it would launch a satellite, a move that would defy a number United Nations resolutions targeting North Korea. U.S. officials said that a satellite launch would "abrogate" the February agreement.




Foreign Assistance


Book Description




Foreign Assistance: North Korea Restricts Food Aid Monitoring


Book Description

U.S. policy is that no food aid will be provided to North Korea if it cannot be adequately monitored. The World Food Program has established procedures to track and monitor food aid deliveries in North Korea. However, the North Korean government has not allowed the World Food Program to fully implement its procedures, and as a result, it cannot be sure that the food aid is being shipped, stored, or used as planned. Specifically, the North Korean government, which controls food distribution, has denied the World Food Program full access to the food distribution chain and has not provided required reports on food use. Consequently the World Food Program cannot be sure it is accurately reporting where U.S. government-donated food aid is being distributed in North Korea. This report contains recommendations for improving accountability over food aid by using diplomatic means to encourage North Korea to allow greater oversight over food distribution and encourages the World Food Program to provide more comprehensive and timely reporting on food aid distributions within North Korea.