North Korea relies on food aid to feed its population
North Korea was relying on food aid to feed its population during the height of its drought, which appeared to be easing as precipitation levels rose. Reuters

North Korea Saturday accused the US of breaking a bilateral nuclear disarmament deal by overreacting to its planned satellite launch in mid-April, according to an AFP report.

The US overreaction to DPRK (North Korea's) plan... has gone beyond the limit, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said that the US's decision to halt the food aid amounted to violation of the bilateral agreement entered by both the countries in February.

The US was supposed to send 240,000 tons of food in exchange of a nuclear and ballistic missile test moratorium from North Korea.

North Korea had announced earlier it would launch a weather satellite to mark the centenary celebrations of its founder president Kim-II-Sung in April. Pyongyang says its satellite launch is for peaceful scientific purposes and does not violate any international agreement.

The US said Wednesday it was suspending a food aid deal with North Korea, as Pyongyang has refused to halt the rocket launch. The US has made it clear that by opting to go ahead with the launch, North Korea has clearly violated the terms of the food deal which prohibits it from testing any long-range ballistic missiles.

However, North Korea had been insisting that it will not back down, and has reportedly moved the main part of the rocket to a launch pad in Tongchang-ri village in the northwest region.

North Korea plans to launch the satellite between April 12 and 14 in a South East trajectory, according to the latest reports.

Nuclear weapons South Korea