U.S. officials are saying that if only the North will budge on inspections, the U.S. and its allies will start treating it like any other country. Investment would flow and the U.S. would recognize the government of Kim Il Sung, which is the same regime that began the Korean War 40 years ago by invading the South. Mr. Clinton's big carrot even includes an offer to stop "Team Spirit," the joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise.

The North Koreans must be pleased. If they'd merely lived by their 1991 commitment, they'd still be an isolated regime beset by economic woes. But having stiffed the world and threatened U.S. allies, they may be rewarded with trade, aid and the global respect they've coveted for decades. For breaking all of the rules against proliferating weapons, Kim Il Sung gets treated as a statesman we can do business with. Saddam Hussein must be thinking that if only he'd had a nuclear weapon, he might still be in Kuwait. And we can all guess the lessons that Iran's mullahs are drawing from this.