Not that they’d likely accomplish much anyway, but Kim Jong Il continues to balk at returning to six-party talks. The absence of any excuse to pay Kim Jong Il off is always a good thing, I suppose. Not that China needs one.________________________ North Korea launches another crackdown on cell phones. I don’t understand how Orascom hopes to establish itself in this sort of environment. A serious question for anyone who knows: why does North Korea think it can control Orascom...

I’m a sports agnostic and the Olympics especially boring to me, but I’m gratified there will be no wretch-inducing hippie unifiction of the Korean Olympic teams this year. The dishonesty of it — the moral decision to intentionally overlook what the North Korean regime really represents — always grated on me.________________ South Korea says the time is not ripe for cross-border tourism. A good case could be made that the exorbitant price the North Koreans charge for these tours triggers...

The folks at Slate (and one reader, thanks) e-mailed me this review of Nothing to Envy, which contemplates the problem of breaking down North Korea’s isolation: The answer is one that policy-makers from Washington to Seoul often overlook, fixated as they are on two stark options as they confront North Korea’s nuclear threat: either impose harsh sanctions or promise a “grand bargain” of complete normalization and massive financial assistance in return for denuclearization. Either put a stone slab on top...