June 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. will give North Korea 50,000 metric tons of food, a move the Bush administration said is unrelated to efforts to get North Korea to shut down its nuclear arms program, the Associated Press reported today.

President George W. Bush's administration made a similar decision last July, AP said.

North Korea indicated this month that it was ready to resume talks with the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, AP said. No date has been set.

``The president has said that he does not believe that food should be used as a diplomatic weapon,'' said Scott McClellan, White House press secretary, according to the Associated Press.

(AP 6-22)

To contact the reporter on this story: Theresa Barry in Washington at Tbarry2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 22, 2005 15:20 EDT