US to meet with N. Korea to discuss food aid

The United States will hold talks with North Korea in Beijing on Thursday on the possibility of providing food aid to the impoverished country, the State Department said.

The Obama administration has been deliberating on the issue for months. The United Nations and US charities say aid is badly needed, but it remains a controversial issue. North Korea has plowed resources into a nuclear weapons program even as its people go hungry. (AP)