Food for Nukes? In North Korea, it's Western chumps to the rescue.

WSJ Online ^

[rellimpank]

BY CLAUDIA ROSETT Sunday, February 19, 2006

It's bad enough that North Korea's Kim Jong Il is starving his people while building nuclear bombs. But why are we helping him?

In theory, we're not. But the U.S. has been by far the largest donor to the aid appeal under which the U.N. World Food Program has shipped $1.7 billion worth of rice, corn, wheat and sugar into North Korea over a decade. Last summer the regime declared itself self-sufficient in food, ordering the WFP to wind down operations by the end of the year. But North Korea also let the WFP know that it would be happy to start receiving aid for state-run development projects. Obediently, the WFP has come up with a plan, awaiting approval from its executive board this week, to "work with the Government to support its strategy of moving towards development and away from humanitarian assistance." The "Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation" has a $102 million budget to deliver food and "transitional assistance" for Pyongyang's "strategy for recovery."

[rellimpank]

--the redoubtable Ms. Rosett hits the nail on the head--

[manglor]

I'm so glad I'm being screwed out of 20% of my income so we can help America-hating North Korean communists that wouldn't give 1.03 seconds hesitation before killing me. /sarcasm

[Eric in the Ozarks]

"Chump" is about the kindest description of Jimmah Cahtah I've seen for a while.

[Incorrigible]

Thank you very much foolish Americans!