US suspends food aid to N Korea

The United States has suspended food aid to North Korea because Pyongyang has broken its promise to refrain from missile launches and cannot be trusted to deliver the aid to those who need it, a Pentagon official said on Wednesday. The United States had previously warned that any launch would jeopardize food assistance, but the official's comments at a congressional hearing marked a tougher stance and made clear plans to deliver aid had already been scrapped. A planned rocket launch next month by North Korea "reflects their lack of desire to follow through on their international commitments and so we've been forced to suspend our activities to provide nutritional assistance to North Korea," Peter Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs, told lawmakers. In light of North Korea's actions, the United States had "no confidence" that it was possible "to ensure that the food assistance goes to the starving people and not the regime elite," Lavoy said before the House Armed Services Committee. Under a deal reached last month, North Korea had agreed to a partial nuclear freeze and a missile test moratorium in return for US food aid.