Foreign Assistance

North Korea Restricts Food Aid Monitoring Gao ID: NSIAD-00-35 October 8, 1999

U.S. policy is that no food aid will be provided to North Korea unless the aid can 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 reports on food use. Consequently, the World Food Program cannot be certain that it is reporting accurately on where food donated by the U.S. government is being distributed in North Korea. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Foreign Assistance: North Korean Constraints Limit Food Aid Monitoring, by Benjamin F. Nelson, Director of International Relations and Trade Issues, before the House Committee on International Relations. GAO/T-NSIAD-00-47, Oct. 27 (10 pages).

GAO noted that: (1) U.S. policy is that no food aid will be provided to North Korea if it cannot be adequately monitored; (2) WFP has established procedures to track and monitor food aid deliveries to North Korea; (3) however, the North Korean government has not allowed WFP 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; (4) specifically, the North Korean government, which controls food distribution, has denied WFP full access to the food distribution chain and has not provided required reports on food use; and (5) consequently, WFP cannot be sure it is accurately reporting where U.S. government-donated food aid is being distributed in North Korea.

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