Kissinger's strange op-ed on North Korea

Posted By Blake Hounshell Sunday, August 9, 2009 - 11:20 AM Share

With all due respect to Henry the K., this is barmy:

A visit by a former president, who is married to the secretary of state, will enable Kim Jong Il to convey to North Koreans, and perhaps to other countries, that his country is being accepted into the international community -- precisely the opposite of what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has defined as the goal of U.S. policy until Pyongyang abandons its nuclear weapons program.

Let Kim Jong Il do all the conveying he wants. The world is still going to see him as a bizarre, megalomaniacal tyrant -- and this episode makes only reinforces that perception. Grown-up nations don't take hostages.

As for the two journalists, they're now safe with their families. Here, I agree with the Carnegie Endowment's Douglas Paal:

Some commentators are suggesting that the Clintons’ actions showed American weakness by expressing regret to a ruthless dictator. These critics need to ask themselves: how would a more aggressive approach have gained the release of these two women from a sentence of 12 years of hard labor?

How indeed?

EXPLORE:NORTH KOREA

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VIGOROUS

10:11 AM ET

August 10, 2009

Russia

A few years back, Putin offered N Korea a way to make some cash:

Accept a rail line through from Siberia, thence to the Pacific through South Korea.

Maybe now there ought to be put some flesh on these bones.

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