By any measure, North Korea's is a difficult regime to deal with. It hurls insults around the neighbourhood. It builds far-flying missiles-and by its own boast nuclear bombs-to back up its threats. It treats its own people appallingly badly. While Kim Jong Il, current dynast-in-chief, was pampering himself as usual, perhaps 2m (out of some 22m) ordinary North Koreans died of hunger and related illnesses following a famine in the mid-1990s, the result of bad luck turned deadly by decades of crack-pot policies. Late last year Mr Kim kicked out international aid agencies, biting off the hand that was still helping to feed many of his destitute people. He has so far spurned lavish inducements to trade in his bombs at on-again-off-again six-party talks with America, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia. How does he get away with it?
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