COMMITTEE
NEWS
Thursday,
November 17, 2011
North Korea
Food Aid Restrictions on Path to Become Law; "Congress should have cut off
all food aid to North Korea," says Royce
WASHINGTON,
DC -- Later today, the Agriculture
Appropriations conference report is scheduled to be considered by the
House of Representatives. The conference report represents the text agreed upon
by the House and Senate, to be sent to the President for signature to become
law. The final text of the bill prohibits
food aid to countries that do not provide adequate monitoring and which divert
food for inappropriate purposes. In recent months, the Obama
Administration has actively considered a request to renew food aid to North
Korea. The U.S. has provided about $800 million in food aid to this nuclear
rogue since 1996, much misused.
Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, who successfully offered an amendment in the House that prohibits food aid to North Korea, released the following statement prior to the bill’s consideration:
"While far from the ideal of no food aid, this provision does send an important message to the Obama Administration that there is great skepticism about turning on the aid spigot to North Korea," said Royce. "It's too bad that Senate Democrats didn't understand the way food aid bolsters the North Korean regime. But this provision has the potential to end aid down the road."
"The North Korean people are suffering under this barbaric regime. But food aid that is siphoned off by the regime and the military doesn’t help them. I can’t think of any agreement North Korean hasn't cheated on. We're naive to think we can outfox them on aid distribution. North Korean defectors have said that providing food aid is the same as aiding its nuclear program.
"I think it is fair to say that my language, which has been pending for months, has prevented some bad decisions by the Obama Administration by forcing an examination of its food aid plans. If aid is given, despite all the problems, we'll be watching to point out monitoring shortcomings in accordance with the new law," concluded Royce.
Last year, in his final report to the U.N. General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea noted:
North Korea’s "national resources are distorted in favor of militarization and the ruling elite. This is most evident in regard to the expenditure of the nuclearization process, a development castigated by the international community… This mis-expenditure has not only depleted the national budget, which should have been spent on the welfare of the population, but it has also compromised international peace and security." The rapporteur also noted that North Korea has an entrenched "military first" policy.
Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that North Korea continues to make "rapid progress" on its nuclear program
