Following the June 12-14 North-South Korea summit in Pyongyang, there will be one sure way to tell if the proceedings have been even moderately successful.
Of course, some applause must be given for the fact that the parties have even agreed to sit down at all 50 years after the Korean War started. North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, there was a truce in 1953, but technically the two Koreas are still at war.
The consensus among diplomatic analysts is that the tete-a-tete between South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, can be judged successful if the North's enigmatic chief agrees to reciprocate; that is, if he will go to Seoul for a followup meeting in the near future.