HAWAII/SOUTH KOREA:DISCUSSIONS ON DETERIORATING KOREAN SITUATION

(25 Jan 1996) English/Korean U-S and South Korean officials have met in Honolulu to discuss the deteriorating situation in North Korea. Senior officials at the U-S State Department say America will send food aid to Communist North Korea, where hundreds of thousands of people are thought to be starving. And in Seoul, three North Korean defectors have given new indications of the severity of food shortages in the hard-line Communist country. The Honolulu talks -- which also included Japanese officials -- were held in a casual atmosphere. They centered on what to do about the deteriorating situation in communist North Korea where floods and economic decline have devastated food production. Hundreds of thousands are feared to be starving. American officials are pushing to begin food aid to North Korea, whereas South Korea wants the North to change its hardline first. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We appreciate you travelling all this distance to meet with us and our Japanese colleagues. These are very important trilateral talks." SUPER CAPTION: Winston Lord, U-S Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian & Pacific Affairs SOUNDBITE: (English) "I am really looking forward to really close consultation and cooperation and finally some common strategy toward North Korea." SUPERCAPTION: Ban Ki Mun, South Korean Assistant Foreign Minister The negotiations also covered the contentious issue of rice exports. The U-S is anxious to gain a share of the huge Asian market. In Seoul, South Korea-- Lee Sun-ok, her son Choe Dong-chul and North Korean Army staff Sergeant Choe Kwang-hyuk met the press. The three fled the North last month. 49 year old Lee Soon-ok fled to South Korea with her son after her husband refused to leave with them. She was jailed for six years from 1986 to 1992 on charges of coveting national fortune. Choi Kwang-hyuk deserted his unit in December and then slipped across the demilitarized zone into South Korea. He said the situation is so bad in the North, that even food rations for soldiers have been cut. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) "We talked among ourselves about how rice must have come from South Korea through a third world. Officers who went into the villages to try to get materials came back telling us that rations had been cut for months." SUPER CAPTION: Choi Kwang-hyuk, defector In the past there have been worries that aid to North Korea will be used to feed the army and not those who are in real need. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...