[mArVHDO6]

North Korea is obviously a pariah state with a completely different set of values and goals than the United States and other Western powers. The government of North Korea is hardly interested in putting down it's combative attitude to sing kumbaya with Europe and North America. The government wants to be treated as an equal, and not as the irresponsible, immature, and combative govenment that it is. That they have not deserved to be treated as responsible country is the most salient of opinions we hold about them.

So here we are.

Approaching North Korea is going to have to be dealt with delicately, and sometimes that has to mean taking a hands off approach for a while, so we are not seen as trying to order Kim around. It sounds fruitless to many, I'm sure, but we aren't dealing with rational people here. North Koreans are subdued into a fantastical personality cult around the leader, Kim Jong-il, and he is just soaking it up. Kim is never going to change because he knows he can do almost anything he wants without consequence, while his people are behind him all the way whether they like it or not. Isolation has not worked. Part of the problem is North Korea has found a way out of international isolation by ties with the Eastern powers Russia and China, both of which essentially coddle the ignominious little government of North Korea.

There won't be a solution until either a dramatic change in political climate happens in North Korea, or the largest Eastern powers, Russia and China pressure them into change.