U.S. suspends resumed food aid to North Korea

"The United States has suspended planned food aid to North Korea as Pyongyang vows to push ahead with a plan to launch a long-range missile in defiance of international warnings, U.S. military officials said on Wednesday," Reuters reports (Eckert, 3/29). "Under a deal reached last month, North Korea agreed to a partial nuclear freeze and a moratorium on missile testing in return for U.S. food aid," but "Pyongyang then announced it would use a long-range rocket to launch a satellite," VOA's "Breaking News" blog writes (3/28). Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Lavoy on Wednesday "told lawmakers North Korea had violated [the] moratorium agreement and could not be trusted to deliver the aid properly," BBC News writes (3/28). The aid package, containing 240,000 tons of food and nutritional products, "was expected to target the most needy in North Korea -- including malnourished young children and pregnant women," VOA News notes (Ide, 3/28).