US announces deal to send food to North Korea

The Bush administration says the aid is unrelated to its nuclear disarmament deal with Pyongyang, although both have involved an unusual intensity of U.S. diplomacy with a nation President Bush once included as part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran.

"We don't see any connection," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of the food aid and disarmament talks. "We're doing this because America is a compassionate nation and the United States and the American people are people who reach out to those in need."

The United States last provided food aid to North Korea in 2005. Further deliveries fell apart in a dispute over a U.S. demand for close oversight of how the aid would be distributed. The United States wants assurances the food won't be diverted or used improperly by the government of Kim Jong Il.

The new agreement followed weeks of talks over the aid would be monitored.

"The two sides have agreed on terms for a substantial improvement in monitoring and access in order to allow for confirmation of receipt by the intended recipients," according to a statement from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

McCormack said the shipments will begin in June, and will be distributed through the United Nations World Food Program and a charity group.

The U.S. said it does not know exactly how much the deal will cost, because prices will depend on such variables as the costs of food and shipping, both of which are rising fast.

Pyongyang "has been open in saying it faces a major shortage in food supplies," White House press secretary Dana Perino said earlier this week.

"The president thinks that the government is certainly diverting food to the military and not giving it to the people," she said. "But outside of politics, the president's heart hurts when he knows that people are starving, and especially because -especially for children, who are maybe trying to go to school."