The White House has urged North Korea to immediately suspend its nuclear weapons development program and work to better feed its people.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. and its allies are seeking to make it clear “that there is an avenue available” to the North to end its isolation and allow it to better feed its people, if it simply decides to abandon its nuclear ambitions and abide by international obligations.

Carney added that the U.S. cannot provide the nutritional assistance that “is so needed by the North Korean people” following the North’s rocket launch last week. He said the choice by the North to launch the rocket last week “was a bad choice.”

Meanwhile, in the State Department, spokesman Mark Toner said that the U.S. has had “long-standing concerns” over the forced repatriation of North Korean escapees.

He made the remark after being asked to comment on a Japanese newspaper’s report that China has stopped forcibly sending back escapees to North Korea.

Toner said he has no particular information on such a report.