US working on food aid plan for North Korea

(Recasts with State Department comments, adds background)

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Tuesday it is preparing a new package of food aid for North Korea and expects to unveil details soon to help avoid what aid groups have warned is a looming famine in the reclusive state.

After talks last week in communist North Korea, U.S. officials came up with a better mechanism for monitoring the distribution of aid -- the "hang-up" that stopped the flow previously, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"We're working on now, a proposal for food aid, to address the humanitarian need in North Korea," McCormack told reporters. "We had some good discussions. We'll probably have some announcements for you in the coming days."

Aid groups say soaring global food prices and reluctance by donors have helped push North Korea close to famine.

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday the United States had agreed to give North Korea 500,000 tonnes of food aid under a deal that would allow monitors unprecedented access to oversee distribution.

The report said Washington will supply 400,000 tonnes via the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), while U.S. nongovernmental organizations will distribute 100,000 tonnes.

U.S. President George W. Bush would approve the arrangement within days, the newspaper said.

The United States suspended food aid to North Korea in 2005 after Pyongyang asked a number of people with the WFP, through which much of the aid had been channeled, to leave.

From 1995 until the suspension, the United States had provided about 2 million tonnes of food aid to North Korea through the WFP. But Washington's concern was that, without the experts in the country, it would not be clear whether the aid was reaching those who needed it.

Washington has faced similar concerns with aid being sent to military-ruled Myanmar in the last week after a cyclone killed an estimated 100,000 people and left up to 1.5 million survivors facing hunger and disease.

Myanmar has allowed in some relief supplies from the United States and other countries but has not granted visas to aid workers to distribute it.

McCormack said U.S. officials had come up with a "better monitoring mechanism" for tracking the aid in North Korea. He gave no details but said the mechanism was being examined by others in the U.S. government.

"We're now taking a close look at what the needs are, what our capabilities to fill that need might be," he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, the State Department's top Korea expert, Sung Kim, also said U.S. officials had good discussions on food aid in North Korea but that he did not believe there was a deal yet.

Kim, the State Department's nuclear envoy, was not involved in the food aid talks. U.S. officials have said that food aid for North Korea should be considered separately from the issue of persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program.

U.S. policy is that food assistance should not be used as a weapon. (Editing by John O'Callaghan)