On starvation in North Korea

They are called "black swallows", the starving, stunted and orphaned children of North Korea who haunt the country in search of food.

They are the youngest victims of a devastating famine that has killed at least two million North Koreans since the mid-1990s. Two-thirds of all children younger than seven are malnourished.

While a series of droughts has contributed to the crisis, much famine results from corruption and inefficiency.

Yet, while millions starve, leaders invest in nuclear weapons, defying international law. Nonetheless, the United States remains the country's largest donor of food.

Unfortunately, much of the donated food does not reach hungry citizens, but winds up in the padded stomachs of the military and Communist Party. Because of this, Doctors of the World and Doctors Without Borders last summer left North Korea in protest.

The callousness of North Korean leaders poses a moral dilemma for the United States and other nations. Should food donations continue even though much of it is diverted from the neediest people? Or should such donations cease?

-- San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio