Kim's weird way

Today the officially-proclaimed "Dear Leader" of North Korea will begin rattling his way home from Moscow aboard his 21-car armored train, a journey requiring another 10 days of travel before Kim Jong-il finally reaches his desk in Pyongyang. Without doubt, this has been one of the odder diplomatic junkets of modern times.

But what was it all about? Neither Mr. Kim nor Russian President Vladimir Putin have said much useful on that topic, but it's obvious the Korean leader had more in mind than merely seeing the ballet Les Sylphides or visiting Lenin's tomb when he left home two weeks ago. And it's highly possible that, in its own weird way, Mr. Kim's travels will bring some good news to the troubled Northeast Asian region.

For one thing, the journey is another example of North Korea's uneven, somewhat suspicious efforts to reach out to the world and become a more normal nation. Merely dining at the Kremlin won't do it but, in his talks with the Russian President, Mr. Kim almost certainly heard things that should encourage him to go further.

Mr. Putin's own priorities include improving relations with the United States even while derailing President George W. Bush's plans for an anti-missile defense system. It's therefore probable that he politely advised Mr. Kim to make his promised summit trip to Seoul, resume suspended talks with the U.S. and in general expand tentative agreements to defuse missile and nuclear disputes with Washington. In brief, don't act like the leader of a "rogue state" and give American hawks the justification they seek for their costly anti-missile program.

What he almost certainly didn't hear should also push Mr. Kim in the same direction.

In past years, impoverished North Korea enjoyed Moscow's largess, gaining from both the Cold War and Sino-Soviet competition. But Mr. Putin has neither the interest nor ability to restore such generosity; what Pyongyang can't afford, it probably won't get. So he likely reminded Mr. Kim that North Korea can't simply rely on the kindness of aid-giving strangers, but must earn its own way in the world.

As always with Pyongyang, there are few certainties. Hidden behind his tinted bulletproof windows as he crosses Siberia, Mr. Kim may devise new problems for the Korean peninsula. But it's more likely that Mr. Putin gave him a gentle nudge towards normal and peaceful discourse.

-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong