The United States says it has put aside food aid for North Korea, but that Pyongyang's decision to not allow U.N. distribution of the food has forced Washington to suspend its assistance.

U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters Thursday that even though Washington has earmarked the aid, the food assistance has been suspended because Pyongyang says it not going to distribute the food any more.

He said the move is “not inconsistent with past North Korean practice, which is to ignore the needs of its people and let them starve for inexplicable reasons."

The U.S. was planning on providing 50-thousand tons of food aid to the impoverished state through the end of this year.

In September, North Korea announced that it wanted the emergency food aid shifted into development assistance by the end of this month.

According to the World Food Program, years of famine in the reclusive state are over, but 37 percent of North Korea children are still chronically malnourished.