global WFP money -- to get food in there fast". Pyongyang has been embroiled for years in a nuclear stalemate with Washington and recent efforts to re-start six-party talks also including South Korea, Japan, China and Russia have been fruitless. The situation has become more tense since North Korea announced in February for the first time that it possessed nuclear weapons. This month it said it had extracted spent fuel from a nuclear reactor, a move that could yield more weapons-grade nuclear material. U.S. officials have said in recent weeks North Korea might be preparing for a nuclear test, which could trigger a dangerous escalation of tension with the impoverished Communist country. Bourke, however, said the WFP was confident its donors did not link politics and aid. --SP 1138 Local Time 0838 GMT
