Responding to warnings about severe food scarcity in North Korea, on May 31, the United States sent its first official envoy to North Korea since 2009. U.S. government food assistance to North Korea ended due to concerns that some of it actually ended up feeding the military. "It's very hard for the administration not to respond," says David Straub, associate director of the Stanford Korean Studies Program, who suggests however that it does not change the U.S. position on North Korea's nuclear program.