A two-man US team tasked with evaluating a request for food aid from impoverished North Korea arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
Robert King, the US special envoy on the North's human rights, and Jon Brause, an official in the US Agency for International Development, arrived in the North Korean capital to "assess the food situation", Xinhua said.
Last week, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said King would also raise "appropriate human rights issues" with North Korean officials during the trip.