Assistance to North Korea

Abstract

Since 1995, the United States has provided North Korea with over $1.2 billion in assistance, about 60% of which has paid for food aid and about 40% for energy assistance. U.S. aid fell significantly in the mid-2000s, bottoming out at zero in 2006. The Bush Administration resumed energy aid in the fall of 2007, after progress was made in the Six-Party Talks over North Koreas nuclear program. The Six-Party Talks involve North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. The United States and other countries began providing heavy fuel oil (HFO) in return for Pyongyang freezing and disabling its plutonium-based nuclear facilities in Yongbyon. By the second week of December 2008, the United States had provided all of the 200,000 MT of HFO it had promised under this "Phase Two" of the Six-Party Talks process. Russia completed its promised shipments of energy aid in January 2009. China and South Korea appeared to be calibrating their Six-Party-related assistance to progress in disabling Yongbyon. North Korea's failed satellite launch on April 5, 2009, which used ballistic missile-related technology, led to U.N. Security Council condemnation. In response, North Korea said it would abandon the Six-Party Talks, would restart its nuclear facilities and asked international and U.S. inspectors to leave the country. The United States had been providing technical assistance to North Korea to help in the nuclear disablement process. In 2008, Congress took legislative steps to legally enable the President to give expanded assistance for this purpose. In its FY2009 Supplemental Appropriations budget request, the Obama Administration has asked for over $150 million for North Korea-related energy and denuclearization assistance. This money would supplement existing resources in the event of a breakthrough with North Korea. In separate committee actions, House and Senate appropriators denied these requests.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 20, 2009
Accession Number
ADA500962

Entities

People

  • Mark E. Manyin
  • Mary B. Nikitin

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Asia
  • Department Of State
  • European Union
  • Foreign Relations
  • Fuel Oils
  • Fuels
  • Governments
  • Heavy Fuels
  • Human Rights
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • International Organizations
  • Korea
  • Law
  • National Security
  • North Korea
  • United States

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security

Technology Areas

  • Space