North Korea

Yesterday marked the 65th anniversary of the armistice that stopped the fighting in the Korean war and it also saw the return of some remains of soldiers who died in that war.

Obviously the symbolism of the first had something to do with the timing of the second, but certainly there is nothing bad about returning the remains.

North Korea is one of the most closed societies on the planet and has a lot to gain from normal diplomatic relations.

It finally got some recognition with the threat of nuclear weapons and since those were its best bargaining chips, its going to play them carefully.

Its main goals would appear to be the formalization of peace, the removal of sanctions, and the removal of the American troops in the South.

There may be other things, but they will become obvious as time passes.

Our position seems to simply be the elimination of their nuclear program when for all these years it was tied to other objectives, like a reduction of the threat to the South.

North Korea is a country that would hardly be worth talking about except they have managed, despite being a fairly backward nation, to maintain a large military presence and have represented a threat to peace in the Korean peninsula since the 1950s.

They also have seemingly figured out that our dontard is mostly interested in getting his ego stroked and public relations so they can proceed without much real cost.

Still any progress there is a good thing, as long as the threat to the South is curtailed.

Its just hard t imagine they aren't ready to unify the peninsula as soon as we leave.