( CNN ) -- Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results . Following a third exploratory round of bilateral talks between the United States and North Korea held in Beijing last week , Washington looks as though it is walking into yet another goodies-for-nuclear freeze deal with the reclusive North Koreans . The State Department announced Wednesday that the United States would provide food aid to North Korea in return for Pyongyang 's promise to implement a moratorium on long-range missile launches , nuclear tests and its plutonium and uranium enrichment activities . North Korea also agreed to allow the return of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to verify and monitor the moratorium . Einstein , if he cared about the issue , would probably roll over in his grave . Why are we doing this ? We have seen this playbook several times before in our 25-plus year history of trying to denuclearize North Korea . The United States gets pulled into providing food or energy indefinitely to maintain the nuclear freeze . The North Koreans eventually cheat on the freeze and undertake augmentation of their nuclear weapons at other undisclosed facilities . We stop providing the assistance . A hair-raising crisis ensues that is ultimately resolved through another assistance-for-freeze agreement . Wash , rinse , repeat . Political types might condemn it as insanity , naivetÃ© or both . But there may be some common-sensical reasons for doing this . Practically speaking , the achievement of a nuclear and missile-testing moratorium , as well as the reintroduction of the U.N. nuclear-watchdog agency inspectors into Yongbyon , is a useful step . The uranium enrichment program currently meets the definition of a runaway nuclear program . It has gone unabated now for at least five years , if not longer . Getting eyes on the ground again , as in 1994 to 2002 and 2007 to 2008 , is a welcome development . For North Korea , the young Kim Jong Un may want to demonstrate a continuity of leadership after the sudden death of his father nine weeks ago , and the regime wants food in preparation for its April 15 celebrations of the 100th birthday of the first leader of North Korea , Kim Il Sung . However , beyond these tactical solutions are longer-term strategic challenges . First , North Korea may temporarily halt their program , but the grim reality is that it will not part with it . Second , the IAEA inspectors will go into the facilities without a supporting U.N. Security Council resolution declaring that the uranium program is in violation of standing denuclearization agreements . ( China opposed this . ) So while the United States will see this move as monitoring a freeze , North Korea will see it as validating to the international community that it only has peaceful intentions with its uranium program . Third , it is too soon to tell whether this agreement means the junior Kim is turning over a new leaf and seeking to make nice with the world . Fourth , the slightest opening up of this brittle dictatorship under the untested son will ensure that it comes crumbling down -- something for which the United States , China and South Korea are wholly unprepared . Fifth , a nuclear freeze is a long way from the denuclearization objectives sought in the 2005 agreement at the so-called Six-Party Talks . Indeed , one of the unmet U.S. `` pre-steps '' for returning to the Six-Party Talks was a commitment by the North to refrain from further provocations such as the 2010 submarining of a South Korean navy ship and artillery shelling of a South Korean island . The North made no such commitments outside of a vague reference to supporting the 1953 armistice agreement that ceased Korean War hostilities . Finally , nongovermental and humanitarian groups probably chafe at the explicit linking of food assistance to the nuclear freeze . The United States would claim that the North insisted on the linkage . But it takes two to tango . Secretary of State Hillary Clinton correctly characterized the agreement as a `` modest step forward . '' This may not be insanity , but it is distasteful given the nature of the regime , its human rights violations and its blatant willingness to engage in renegade nuclear activities . Unfortunately , that 's the price one pays when negotiating with North Korea . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Victor Cha , Ellen Kim and Marie DuMond .
The North Korea and U.S. reach new deal on nuclear moratorium . Marie DuMond , Ellen Kim and Hillary Clinton : We 've seen this playbook before . The writers say the grim reality is that the deal is a temporary move for North Korea . They say Ellen Kim correctly characterized the deal as a `` modest step forward ''