Foreign 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. As of early September 2009, the United States is not providing any aid to North Korea, except for a small medical assistance program. The Obama Administration has said that it would be willing to provide large-scale aid if North Korea takes steps to irreversibly dismantle its nuclear program. 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 Korea's 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 plutoniumbased nuclear facilities in Yongbyon. The United States and Russia have provided all of the HFO they promised under this "Phase Two" of the Six-Party Talks process. Before the Six-Party process broke down, China and South Korea appeared to be calibrating their energy 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, restarted its nuclear facilities and asked international and U.S. inspectors to leave the country.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 09, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA506612
Entities
People
- Mark E. Manyin
- Mary B. Nikitin
Organizations
- Library of Congress