N. Korea Seeks Talks on Food, Then on Peace

SEOUL — With floods and now drought threatening to cause a famine, North Korea said Sunday that it wants to discuss obtaining more food aid before joining a Korean peace conference.

Negotiators from the United States, China and the two Koreas met last week in New York to discuss convening talks to negotiate a peace agreement to replace the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. Negotiations adjourned until September after the parties failed to agree on an agenda for the proposed peace talks.

On Sunday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s negotiators also were disappointed by U.S. insistence that food aid could be discussed only after the peace talks open.

“With serious food problems, we guard against possible use of food assistance to [North Korea] as a political weapon at the four-way talks,” a ministry spokesman told the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

South Korea believes the North’s hard-line stand is aimed at extracting as much food assistance as possible from the United States.

In the New York talks, North Korea demanded that the conference discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea and a bilateral peace treaty with Washington that would exclude South Korea. The others refused such specific agenda items.

The talks’ results were “below our expectations,” the North Korean spokesman said. Discussions are to resume in New York the week of Sept. 15.

North Korea is experiencing severe food shortages brought on by two straight years of flooding. A drought is devastating this year’s harvest, U.N. officials said.

Malaysia’s foreign minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said Sunday that ideological and political differences with Communist North Korea will not prevent Malaysia from extending aid. Malaysia banned communism because of an insurrection in 1948.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the 11 components of the ruling National Front coalition agreed to donate $4,000 each toward a fund to help North Korea. The fund begun by the Star daily reportedly totals $400,000.