Kim’s Triumph

Taking hostages does pay off. North Korea detained two female American journalists, who supposedly crossed the Chinese–North Korean border illegally. The sentence of 12 years in a labor camp was, from the beginning, believed to be a signal to Washington.

It was clear that America would not allow them to rot in North Korea. That Pyongyang was successful in forcing the political price up so high for the release of the journalists can certainly be called a triumph for Kim Jong-Il.

Bill Clinton is certainly considered to officially be a prominent private citizen. But the mere fact that he had to concoct a canard about carrying a message from President Obama to Kim Jong-Il shows that the superpower had allowed itself to be blackmailed by the small country.

That is why it makes little sense that Washington is pushing North Korea for a return to negotiations on its nuclear program. Pyongyang will never give up the one thing it can boast of in negotiations. And hostages do not show up on the border every day.