UN food aid work in North Korea to continue
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-22 10:49

North Korea will allow U.N. food aid workers to remain in the country, reversing a decision to close their offices and begin taking only long-term development assistance, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said on Saturday.

The World Food Programme said last week it had been forced to shut its food factories in the country amid concern 6.5 million people at high risk may face even greater hardship.

There will still be a sharp cut in the U.N. food aid agency's operation because Pyongyang wanted help to build industries instead, Richardson told reporters after a visit to the North.

"What the new agreement calls for is, one, the aid workers in the World Food Programme can stay, but they probably will have to stay under a renewed definition of what development aid is," Richardson said at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson smiles to reporters at a news conference in Tokyo October 21, 2005, after a four-day trip to North Korea.[Reuters]

The North Koreans have agreed to allow 30 World Food Programme workers to remain and another 30 or so with other non-governmental organisations, he said. It was not immediately clear what they would be allowed to do.

"I believe it was a show of good faith by the North Koreans but the devil is in the details," he said. "My hope is this agreement will allow the important work that humanitarian groups do in North Korea."

The World Food Programme's country director in North Korea, Richard Ragan, said last week Pyongyang's plan to shift toward longer-term aid meant a complete end to his agency's work there.

But Ragan said he was in talks with the North about the agency's future role. Pyongyang might still recognize the dire need faced by those living in poverty in the country continues to require direct emergency assistance.