Foreign aid and starvation

People of good will have been horrified by reports in recent years of mass hunger and even starvation in Communist North Korea. The inefficiencies of a communist system are bound to create shortages, so the troubles in North Korea are no surprise. But they are tragic nonetheless.

So, U.S. officials are visiting the repressive nation to get a clear idea of how widespread hunger is there, and to help our country decide whether to send food to North Korea.

From a humanitarian standpoint, that might seem like an easy decision. No one, after all, wants innocent people to starve.

But it is not that simple where North Korea is concerned. The country has readily found money to fund its nuclear weapons program and its huge military, which it uses to menace its neighbors and oppress its citizens. It is also suspected that previous food aid has been diverted to the military, instead of going to civilians. And yet North Korea strangely cannot afford to feed its own people. In fact, it says a fourth of its population currently needs emergency food aid because of failing crops.

What should the United States and other donor nations do? Well, what we should not do is send food aid to Communist North Korea if we strongly believe it will be diverted to the military and will free up money for the country to continue its dangerous pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Doing so would not serve any humanitarian goal, but rather would keep a cruel regime in power. That is hardly an appropriate use of U.S. aid.

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