zonder....maybe Europe should take up the slack in the free food for North Korea until South Korea and the US have had their chance to resolve this issue with the North Koreans. Maybe the WFP officials CAN show "hard evidence" that ALL the food HAS in fact reached the starving Korean civilians.... That would be a start....
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Our intention is to go forward, but we do need to solve these monitoring problems first," said an administration official. He added that food could not be distributed until Congress approved the State Department budget for the program, in the next month or two.
But World Food Program officials say they have "no hard evidence" that food intended for starving Korean civilians has been diverted to the military. "We have relatively good confidence that the food is reaching the people who need it," one program official said.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
nytimes.com
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Monday, January 06, 2003
WASHINGTON — The White House affirmed a U.S. commitment Monday to "work shoulder to shoulder" with South Korea as the two nations stepped up work on a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis.
"We will continue to consult and cooperate closely with South Korea, especially. We view this as an issue that we need to work together on, and work shoulder to shoulder on," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. "South Korea's offers are always appreciated and we work together." <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>>>>>>Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma said Bush was right to be wary of negotiations with North Korea. Under the 1994 agreement, President Clinton was "paying ransom" to stop the nuclear weapons program, he said.
"And guess what? During those several years that we were paying the ransom, North Korea was still building nuclear weapons," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that with oil and food support, the United States was indirectly propping up an oppressive nation that is "governed by a sociopath" -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
"If you allow the North Koreans to gain some sort of leverage or agreement that would be beneficial to them, that will be a lesson to all other nations: Do the same thing," McCain told CBS' "Face the Nation."<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< |
