U.S. envoy to visit North Korea to assess food shortages

Robert King, the U.S. special envoy on North Korean human rights issues, will lead an official visit to North Korea next week to assess food shortages in the country, according to a Yonhap news agency article quoting a South Korean government source, Agence France-Presse reports.

The delegation is expected to arrive in Pyongyang on Monday. "The purpose of this trip will be confined to discussing the issue of food assistance and it will have no political connotations," according to the government source, AFP writes (5/16). On Tuesday, U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth held talks about North Korea's food aid request, a second AFP article reports. Bosworth, who is in South Korea, "said he and his Seoul hosts have 'largely reached a common view' on possible U.S. aid, but did not elaborate" (Jung, 5/17). "South Korea's Unification Ministry said Tuesday that it has no immediate plans to resume massive government food aid to North Korea," the Associated Press reports (Kim, 5/17).