JUST EIGHT YEARS ago, North Korea's nuclear program was frozen, its reclusive ruler was readying himself for a string of historic summits with the leaders of Russia, South Korea, and Japan, and some kind of lasting peace on the Korean peninsula seemed, if not imminent, then at least plausible. Most promising of all was that the East Asian powers were united in the cause of negotiating North Korea back into the international community. But by the end of 2006, North Korea was a proven nuclear power, had tripled its store of weapons-grade plu-tonium, and was withdrawing once again from the world. The regime was no nearer to collapse, nor the suffering of its people mitigated.
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