Once again, Communist North Korea is hinting that it may be open to halting its nuclear weapons production in exchange for more favorable treatment by the United States and other nations -- as well as more shipments of food to sustain the belligerent but impoverished nation.
But will we and other free countries of the world fall for this ruse yet again?
Repeatedly over the past couple of decades, Communist North Korea has secured promises of food and other international assistance in exchange for vowing to stop building nuclear weapons.
That sounds like a reasonable arrangement, of course, because we certainly don't like it when totalitarian North Korea uses its weapons to menace free and prosperous South Korea.
But it never quite works out, because after it gets the international aid, Communist North Korea goes back to its old ways and starts anew with its production of nukes.
It's debatable whether we should ship food to Communist North Korea under any circumstances because of the danger that the food will be used to support the country's military and not to feed its people, who suffer horrible want because of the Marxist system they live under.
But if we are determined to send aid, could we not at least drop the charade that doing so will get Communist North Korea to stop building nuclear weapons? The United States and other countries have been fooled too many times to play that game of make-believe once more.