Dateline: ROMENorth Korea on Tuesday denounced moves by countries to apply conditions to aid, weeks after Japan said it was witholding future pledges while it reviews relations with the hardline communist state.
North Korea's agriculture minister, Kim Chang Sik, referred indirectly to the issue during a brief speech to the U.N. World Food Summit here.
"It can no means be justified for an individual state to talk about human rights, democracy and mode of state management, ignoring the characteristics and circumstances of others and imposing its own value and developmental models, attaching various terms on assistance," he said.
The United States, Japan and South Korea are the North's biggest donors.
Japan said last month it was withholding new commitments while it reviews diplomatic contacts with Pyongyang, which it accuses of abducting Japanese citizens.
Last week, the United States made a new pledge of 100,000 tons of wheat, rice and dairy produce, which has allowed the U.N. World Food Program to resume distributing food.
WFP had been feeding some 6.4 million people in North Korea, which has depended on foreign food aid since the mid-1990s. But the U.N. agency cut back distributions in May after a shortfall in foreign donations.
Aid workers say foreign donations are dwindling, in part because international attention is focused on rebuilding Afghanistan.
WFP chief James Morris complained at a press conference Tuesday about the difficulties in working in North Korea, saying WFP workers don't have access to telephones or computers to stay in touch with their families and friends.
"Our only objective is to feed the hungry," he said. "We're not interested in the political details of the country."
North Korea's isolated regime saw its farm industry collapse in the mid-1990s after decades of mismanagement and the loss of Soviet subsidies.
As many as 2 million of the North's 25 million people are believed to have died of hunger, though conditions have improved recently.
(nvw-fd)
North Korea lashes out at conditionality of aid after Japan withholds commitments00-00-0000
Dateline: ROMENorth Korea on Tuesday denounced moves by countries to apply conditions to aid, weeks after Japan said it was witholding future pledges while it reviews relations with the hardline communist state.
North Korea's agriculture minister, Kim Chang Sik, referred indirectly to the issue during a brief speech to the U.N. World Food Summit here.
"It can no means be justified for an individual state to talk about human rights, democracy and mode of state management, ignoring the characteristics and circumstances of others and imposing its own value and developmental models, attaching various terms on assistance," he said.
The United States, Japan and South Korea are the North's biggest donors.
Japan said last month it was withholding new commitments while it reviews diplomatic contacts with Pyongyang, which it accuses of abducting Japanese citizens.
Last week, the United States made a new pledge of 100,000 tons of wheat, rice and dairy produce, which has allowed the U.N. World Food Program to resume distributing food.
WFP had been feeding some 6.4 million people in North Korea, which has depended on foreign food aid since the mid-1990s. But the U.N. agency cut back distributions in May after a shortfall in foreign donations.
Aid workers say foreign donations are dwindling, in part because international attention is focused on rebuilding Afghanistan.
WFP chief James Morris complained at a press conference Tuesday about the difficulties in working in North Korea, saying WFP workers don't have access to telephones or computers to stay in touch with their families and friends.
"Our only objective is to feed the hungry," he said. "We're not interested in the political details of the country."
North Korea's isolated regime saw its farm industry collapse in the mid-1990s after decades of mismanagement and the loss of Soviet subsidies.
As many as 2 million of the North's 25 million people are believed to have died of hunger, though conditions have improved recently.
(nvw-fd)
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