CAMBRIDGE, England -- When I was in Beijing the week before Christmas, the topic of North Korea came up several times in conversations with friends and colleagues. Several of them referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as a madman. Kim's state of mind is quite an important question at a time when North Korea is trying to gain, or add to, a nuclear weapons capability.

But I don't think Kim is mad -- quite the contrary. There is, of course, a twinge of madness about the "juche" political philosophy of self-reliance about which "Dear Leader" Kim writes so much (around 900 books and articles at last count). This is, however, not much different from the religious flummery that many, including U.S. leaders, surround themselves with.

If we examine Kim's domestic and foreign policy over the last couple of years, the case for impeachment on grounds of madness doesn't hold up well.