This is simply a case of punishing the weakest and most vulnerable people in North Korea in a vain bid to revive a “maximum pressure” policy that has already failed.
The Trump administration continues using humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip in talks with North Korea. The result is the spread of preventable and treatable diseases:
Delaying humanitarian assistance to sick and hungry people is a cruel and unworthy tactic. Worse still, it is being cruel for no good reason. As I said in October when this pressure tactic was first being reported, the North Korean government is not going to be suddenly moved to give up its nuclear weapons because our government interferes with the delivery of aid.
