In early September, the United States delivered $900,000 (£560,000) worth of food, medical aid, soap, blankets and cooling kits to Pyongyang in a move seen as symbolic. North Korea and the US remain at loggerheads over Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons and the missile systems to deliver them and is hoping to encourage the North back to the bargaining table with offers of more aid in return for abolition of the nuclear threat.