Ever since its founding in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has maintained an aggressive and bellicose international security posture. Today, fully two decades after the end of the Cold War, North Korea's external defense and security policies look arguably more extreme and anomalous than ever.

Korean president Kim Dae Jung addressed the progress to date in improving relations between North and South Korea, the keys to further progress, and the role of the United States.

Kim Jong Il, for his part, is alive and well but prone to egregious lapses of judgment, especially in a crunch.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's ineptitude as a leader is what makes the present crisis withthat countryso scary.

North Korea--a failed state with a vast army and weapons of mass destruction--is home to an expansive population who face starvation and death. As a result, North Koreans are fleeing their totalitarian state in unprecedented numbers. In 2001, an estimated 300,000 North Koreans left their country to...

The Sunshine Policy, an effort to engage North Korea initially implemented under South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, appears increasingly ineffective in light of North Korea's continued nuclear threat and oppression of its people.

Though China could sustain a productive and cooperative performance in international affairs, the nation has shown a historical tendency to follow policies directly contrary to its national interests.

Little is known about North Korea's Kim Jong Il, but the mysterious "Dear Leader" has long been thought an avid cinema enthusiast and film director in his own right. Those rumors were convincingly confirmed last week, at the three-day, first-ever summit in Pyongyang between leaders of North and South Korea....