In this Christian Science Monitor opinion piece, Jim White, vice president of operations at Mercy Corps, and Matt Ellingson, director of program development at Samaritan’s Purse, who “co-led a team from five U.S.-based aid organizations that traveled to North Korea to deliver flood relief supplies” last month, ask why the U.S. and South Korea continue to delay food aid to North Koreans affected by the country’s food crisis despite the fact that “aid groups have a proven ability to monitor the way food is distributed in North Korea.”

“[W]e are baffled as to why the U.S. is still delaying food aid,” they write, adding, “The politics of North Korea are complicated, and no doubt can be frustrating for [U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak]. But the humanitarian imperative is simple: Starving children need food, the U.S. can provide it, and we need to act now” (10/13).