United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-06-15 monographic deposited born digital 69 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-00-175 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-175 P0b002ee18037227f f:ns00175 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-175 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-175 NSIAD-00-175 International food programs Foreign governments Agricultural production International relations Agricultural assistance International agreements North Korea UN World Food Program Letter Report NSIAD B98045

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the U.S. bilateral food assistance project in North Korea, focusing on the: (1) objectives, accomplishments, key factors affecting performance, and monitoring effectiveness of the potato component of the bilateral aid project; (2) objectives, accomplishments, key factors affecting performance, and monitoring effectiveness of the food-for-work component; and (3) administration's views on the project and plans for additional bilateral assistance to North Korea. The United States, North Korea, and a consortium of U.S. private voluntary organizations (known as the Consortium) signed an agreement for the project in April 1999.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) the potato component of the bilateral aid project sought to increase North Korean potato production by using 1,000 metric tons of imported Chinese and American seed potatoes to generate as much as several hundred thousand tons of potatoes over two growing seasons (1999 and 2000); (2) the Consortium estimates that only 3,000 metric tons of potatoes were produced during the first harvest and that most of these were in poor condition; (3) the project produced substantially fewer potatoes than expected primarily because the seed potatoes were planted late in the first growing season, unusually bad weather struck close to the harvest time, and the North Korean government directed that the potatoes be planted in areas that were less than ideal; (4) in addition, the Consortium and the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee did not collaborate on a second planting because the North Korean government no longer wanted assistance in the form of seed potatoes, but instead sought commercial potato propagation technology from the Consortium; (5) the food-for-work program sought to provide 100,000 metric tons of U.S. government-donated food to North Koreans in return for their work on agricultural and other infrastructure projects to benefit their communities, including the seed potato assistance project; (6) the Consortium estimates that the food was distributed to nearly 2.7 million persons in 107 of 211 North Korean counties and met a goal of providing at least 50 percent of the food to northeast provinces, which were considered the most in need of food; (7) key problems that negatively affected the distribution of the food aid were shipping and visa delays and disagreement between the Consortium and the Food Damage Rehabilitation Committee over how the food should be used; (8) as a result of these problems, and in an effort to ensure accountability, the Consortium found it necessary to redirect shipments of commodities to the United Nations World Food Program in North Korea; (9) the Agency for International Development (AID) later arranged to temporarily store subsequent commodities in South Korea, where they were stored until the Consortium and Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee agreed on food distribution plans; (10) U.S. officials said they have no plans for providing additional bilateral emergency assistance to North Korea; and (11) according to Department of State officials, if North Korea were to take actions that resulted in its being removed from its terrorist list, the provision of bilateral development assistance would nevertheless remain certain. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-175/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-175.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-175/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-175.pdf GAO/NSIAD-00-175 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-175 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-00-175; Foreign Assistance: U.S. Bilateral Food Assistance to; International food programs Foreign governments Agricultural production International relations Agricultural assistance International agreements North Korea UN World Food Program Title 7 Section 1722(a) 7 U.S.C. 1722(a) Title 22 Section 2371 22 U.S.C. 2371