Condi: U.S. not ready to engage N. Korea broadly

A day after the New York Philharmonic announced it would play a concert in the North Korean capital and a week after word of a personal letter from Bush to leader of the communist nation, Kim Jong Il, Rice downplayed the significance of both. “This is not a regime that the United States is prepared to engage broadly,” she said. “If we are going to engage it broadly, it’s clear in the program that we have laid out how that would happen, after denuclearization. [AP]

On the insignificance of the philharmonic visit, noted and agreed. On the ambiguity of the meaning of Bush’s letter, agreed. But you have to suspect that this cautious new tone is related to growing congressional resistance to what Rice is trying to do in the little time she has left.