U.S. Envoy For N. Korea Says Administrative Concerns Over Food Aid Resolved, Would Not Provide Details, AP Reports

Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, on Thursday said talks with North Korean officials over food aid had "resolved the administrative issues we were concerned with," although "[h]e declined to disclose details before reporting back to Washington," the Associated Press reports. "The talks follow a deal announced last week in which the U.S. offered 240,000 tons of food aid in return for North Korea freezing long-range missile and nuclear tests and for halting a uranium enrichment program that would be monitored by U.N. inspectors," the news agency writes. "The U.S. ... wanted to ensure that the assistance reaches North Koreans who need it, rather than being diverted to the military or other groups as was suspected with some previous international aid shipments," and while King "said that those concerns about the shipments had been resolved, ... he did not discuss how deliveries would be monitored," according to the AP (3/8).