http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2936616With a U.S. food assessment team led by special envoy Robert King entering North Korea today - a move some regard as a preliminary step toward resuming U.S. food aid to the North - a group of high-profile U.S. senators urged Washington not to make a hasty decision.
In a joint letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday, Republicans John McCain and Jon Kyl, Democrat Jim Webb and independent Joseph Lieberman said the U.S. should use extreme caution so as not to play into the hands of the North Korean regime, which they said may be using the food aid issue as a political weapon.
The senators said Washington should respond to the North’s request through careful consultation with South Korea and Japan.
Over recent months, North Korea has desperately requested food aid from the international community through various diplomatic channels amid the prospect of a worsening food shortage in the North. A recent World Food Program report said more than 6 million North Koreans are in need of food.