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Tour should be given to experts

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un probably has never heard the term “dog and pony show.” Nevertheless, he is engaging in one.

A group of journalists from several countries, including the United States, has been invited to watch North Korean workers dismantle a nuclear weapons testing site. Reporters may have gotten a clue about just how open the regime is when they were told not to open the blinds on a train taking them to the site.

It will make for interesting pictures and video, no doubt. But what will it prove?

Nothing. Few, if any, journalists have the expertise to know what, exactly, they are being shown. Perhaps the test site is being destroyed, perhaps not.

Any deal in which North Korea pledges to reduce nuclear arms development will have to be monitored and verified by experts — or it will not be worth the paper on which it is written.

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