Japan may consider providing additional food aid to North Korea once it can confirm that North Koreans are actually suffering from lack of food, Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Thursday.
"If the conditions in North Korea become more transparent in terms of the food situation as well as the social and political areas, and we can see clearly that people are actually suffering from food shortages, we will likely think about (food aid)," Kono said.
Kono made the remark one day after he met with his North Korean counterpart Paek Nam Sun here in Bangkok -- the first-ever meeting of foreign ministers between the two countries, which lack diplomatic relations.
Kono and Paek agreed Wednesday that the two governments should reopen talks to normalize ties, postponed since May, from Aug. 21 to Aug. 25 in Tokyo. They did not discuss the issue of food aid, Kono told reporters, who accompanied him in his trip here to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum and related meetings held Wednesday and Thursday.