Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's gamble on a trip to Pyongyang seems to have paid off, giving him a boost in the polls, reuniting some of the abductee families and paving the way for Japanese participation in multilateral talks. Rescuing bilateral relations from the deep freeze took political courage, but it remains to be seen if this opportunity will fade before it is tapped.
U.S. President George W. Bush's speechwriter says he included North Korea in the "axis of evil" because he did not want to convey an impression that the United States was singling out Islamic nations. Was this helpful?
"Target North Korea" argues that the threatening posture of the U.S. and demonization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has stoked suspicions and tensions in the region. Gavan McCormack believes that the DPRK "harbors no aggressive or fanatical threat to the region or the world and that its defiance masks an appeal to normalize relations and 'come in from the cold.' "