CAN WE UNDERSTAND NORTH KOREA?

TEA LEAVES

Winnipeg Free Press, March 3, 2012

The effort to understand North Korea is something like reading tea leaves. Even the skeptical look for signs of hope, despite the knowledge that the arrangement of personalities (or leaves) may mean nothing at all.

The latest round of speculation was sparked by the encouraging news the Hermit Kingdom has agreed to suspend nuclear weapons tests and uranium enrichment, as well as allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency into the country.

In return, the United States has agreed to deliver food and to improve relations with North Korea.

The Communist dictatorship has made similar gestures of goodwill in the past, only to retreat to its hostile, anti-Western default position. The country test-fired a nuclear weapon six years ago.

The latest goodwill gesture has stirred the teapot with readings that perhaps North Korea wants a new relationship with the West following the death of Kim Jong Il, who was replaced by his son Kim Jong Un. The new Supreme Leader was educated in Switzerland and exposed to other Western influences, leading to speculation the country may be headed on a new path.

In fact, however, the terms of the current agreement were being hammered out before the new leader assumed the throne.

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