On the topic of food aid to North Korea, Jay Lefkowitz, the new U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights, recently stated that:

“North Korea is clearly a significant recipient of international aid, point No. 1. Point No. 2: there’s no question that we want to see progress in terms of their human rights record. And No. 3, I think consistent with what the president’s overall approach is to human rights and to bringing, ideally, North Korea into the community of nations, we have to take a look at all different areas of our relationship with North Korea.”

That was a bit too ambiguous for South Korean press, who took this as a likely link between human rights in North Korea, and the future of food aid from the U.S. While I agree he was not clear about all that, I doubt the U.S. would consider that approach. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed that when asked about Mr. Lefkowitz’s comments:

“Our policy is that we don’t use food as a weapon.”

Meanwhile, North Korea has indicated that it will reject further food aid from the World Food Program (WFP), as well as “other international bodies.” Why? A few possibilities:

One is that Seoul promised the North substantial food aid that allowed Pyongyang to cover its shortfall to some extent… Pyongyang is also riled by attempts by the WFP… and other international bodies to monitor where the aid is going. The WFP continually tries to check whether food aid is being diverted to the military.

The second reason is, in my opinion, the primary one. The first reason listed enables NK to do something like that, i.e., South Korea is enabling North Korea to reject any monitoring of where food aid ends up, which Seoul of course denies:

However, a South Korean official denied food aid from Seoul could be diverted to the military. Each time it sends 100,000 tons of aid to the North, Seoul says it verifies distribution in four areas including Pyongyang. “This year, we’ll conduct about 20 monitoring sessions,” a government official said.

Well, it is doubtful that 20 inspections by the South Koreans could ensure that food aid is distributed fairly. But North Korean leadership has demonstrated in the past that it is more than willing to starve its people to death without remorse, so the call for WFP to leave may not be bluffing. The coming weeks and Six-Party Talks may shed more light on this.

UPDATE: GI Korea has some good comments on this as well.