U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the head of the UN food agency on Tuesday and discussed the issue of providing food aid to North Korea.

The State Department said in a statement on Wednesday that Pompeo and World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley discussed the UN agency's initiatives to provide nutrition assistance to children, mothers and disaster-affected communities in the North.

The department said the two sides also held talks on the humanitarian situation in countries including Yemen and Venezuela.

The meeting came two days before President Moon Jae-in's planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump amid stalled negotiation between Washington and Pyongyang on the North's denuclearization. 

Pleading food shortage, North Korea requested assistance from UN agencies in February.

[Photo : YONHAP News]