The offer of head-to-head U.S.-North Korean negotiations is rare. The United States has been careful to describe recent such sessions as under the umbrella of six-nation talks to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program. Friday night's statement by State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey made no such disclaimer.

The statement describing widespread damage to life and facilities from the floods and said previous reports had indicated North Korea faced a shortfall of grain approaching 1 million tons.

"The severe August floods have worsened the already desperate situation of the North Korean people," Casey's statement said and added that the United States already was providing, through American non-governmental agencies, "immediate assistance in the form of badly needed antibiotics to prevent the spread of waterborne illness."

Now, he said, "the United States is prepared to engage with North Korean officials on arrangements for a significant food aid package, including appropriate monitoring procedures."

In 2005, the United States stopped aid shipments to North Korea through the U.N. World Food Program after the North Koreans objected to the presence of international aid workers.

The Bush administration said then it would not resume shipments until it could be sure its aid would reach the hungry and not, as some suggested was happening, be funneled to the military.