UNICEF pulls out of North Korea Olympic torch run

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. children's agency UNICEF said on Monday it had withdrawn from the North Korean leg of the Olympic torch run because it would not help draw attention to the plight of children in North Korea.

"We are no longer convinced that UNICEF's participation in the run will support the aim of raising awareness of the situation of children in the DPRK (North Korea) and elsewhere," UNICEF spokesman Christopher de Bono said in a statement.

"UNICEF has therefore decided to withdraw from the Pyongyang relay," he said.

UNICEF had been asked to participate in the Pyongyang leg of the relay by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which said that North Korea had been "unable to identify a Korean national" to take part in the run, de Bono said.

According to the Sunday Times of London, the newspaper that first reported the news of UNICEF's decision, there were concerns that the relay would be used by Pyongyang as a "propaganda stunt" in the reclusive communist state.

The Times said the decision followed a heated internal debate among foreign donors, which face a constant battle with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's government in their efforts to get food and aid to the country's impoverished people.

De Bono said UNICEF remained committed to its partnership with the IOC and to using this partnership to draw attention to problems that children face around the world.

The Olympic torch was due to be paraded through the streets of Pyongyang in late April en route to China, which is hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.

Demonstrations against China's crackdown on Tibet hampered the torch relay in Paris on Monday.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Eric Beech)