By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
The United States is going ahead with its next food aid shipment to North Korea despite lingering concerns about monitoring problems in aid distribution in the reclusive regime, according to a report.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) said Wednesday that the U.S. government has begun loading some 30,000 tons of food aid to be shipped to the Stalinist country. This is the fifth installment of U.S. aid to the North. In all, American food aid is expected to total some 500,000 tons.
In this latest shipment, in addition to corn, there will also be wheat flour and beans as well as fortified milk designed to be distributed to malnourished children in the region, the report said.
Separately, RFA also noted that the focus on the North's denuclearization is now taking a backseat in Washington, where lawmakers are beginning to address the continuing financial troubles on Wall Street.
Some non-government organizations (NGO) as well as aid monitoring groups have raised concerns about the potentially inadequate monitoring system for aid distribution. In particular, some groups have pointed to possible problems in distributing aid in North Korea's Chagang Province.
The NGOs are adamant about implementing a proper aid distribution network in the North so that the food can be properly distributed in the impoverished regime, according to RFA.
The report also noted that there is a strong movement in Washington that opposes offering aid to the Stalinist regime that continues to harbor nuclear ambitions.
Any sign of impropriety in distributing the food aid would embolden this group, the report said. For the most part, aid distribution and the monitoring mechanism appear to be working well, it added.
RFA said that in Washington, Tuesday, the House Armed Services Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on Washington's military and diplomatic strategy including policies in dealing with North Korea and its denuclearization.
But among the 62 lawmakers belonging to the committee, only 10 showed up, and only two members stayed until the end of the hearing.
It said U.S. lawmakers are now expected to focus their attention more on domestic economic issues including measures to possibly improve the ailing U.S. financial system and help prevent a further outbreak of bankruptcies in the banking sector.
Aside from tackling domestic economic issues, the main foreign policy topics that U.S. lawmakers will examine are issues involving the Republic of Georgia and the troubled Middle East region, according to the report.
The U.S. Congress will wrap up its current session by Sept. 26, and there are no other formal hearings on North Korea scheduled before the end of the session.