BANGKOK -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is to be commended for his pluck in venturing to North Korea at a time like this. Indeed, given the political maelstrom he is stepping into, his bold move has every chance of failure. There is predictable opposition from Japan's aging legions of anticommunists, mitigated to a certain extent by Koizumi's generally genial relations with the Yasukuni rightists. There is also the predictable U.S. disapproval of such maverick, unilateral diplomacy, somewhat mitigated by Koizumi's firm support of Washington on Iraq.
The timing is propitious. China is actively encouraging the North to join the world economic order; the United States is preoccupied with salvaging an intervention gone bad in Iraq; and South Korea has just survived a potentially destabilizing impeachment imbroglio.
Mercurial North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited China last month, where he was pampered with fraternal communist protocol of the highest order. He got the overland travel logistics and blanket secrecy he wanted; he got the Politburo Standing Committee send-off he wanted; and he was able to indulge in fine dining at Quanjude Beijing Duck Restaurant, said to be a favorite of his father's.