Emergency food deliveries and a massive aid package for famine-stricken North Korea are being held up by a row between the European Union and Pyongyang.
European countries want North Korea to commit itself to radical agricultural reforms but Pyongyang is refusing to accept any conditions, diplomatic sources said.
'They just want the money without making any commitments and with the minimal of supervision,' the source said.
A meeting in Geneva scheduled for next month has been postponed after an inspection visit to North Korea by European experts was delayed for the second time.
'The technical mission was scheduled for March but many of the North Korean officials were out of the country discussing aid with other donors so the earliest date is at the beginning of May,' said Patrick Murphy, first councillor at the European Union mission in Beijing.
European experts want to assess the situation in the country before donors meet to consider a US$2 billion (HK$15.47 billion) agricultural aid plan drawn up by the United Nation's Development Programme.
