N Korea asks UN to end food aid

UNITED NATIONS - North Korea has asked the United Nations to end food aid because the reclusive communist country's food production had improved and the United States was politicising the issue.

North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon told news agency reporters he had made the request to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a meeting on Wednesday, saying a better harvest had eased the humanitarian situation.

"We requested him to end humanitarian assistance by the end of this year," he said. "Particularly the United States attempted to politicise humanitarian assistance, linking it to the human rights issue."

- REUTERS