No link between food aid and NKorea declaration: US

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Monday insisted the arrival in North Korea of a first shipment of US food aid had no link to Pyongyang's long-awaited declaration last week on its nuclear program.

"Look, there is zero linkage here," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman.

"Anyone asserting that there is a linkage either is extremely misinformed or malicious in intent."

A US ship carrying tens of thousands of tonnes of food arrived in North Korea Sunday, after the communist state authorized a big increase in overseas aid to its hungry people, the UN food agency said Monday.

The World Food Program said in a statement it would in the future be able to feed more than five million people compared to the current 1.2 million.

It said a US-flagged ship arrived Sunday in the western port of Nampo carrying 37,000 tons of wheat, the ...