Northern exposure

There are welcome indications that the U.S. is preparing to resume talks with North Korea. The Bush administration's freeze on the dialogue that Bill Clinton had begun was understandable: the new administration clearly needed time to review what its predecessor had done.

The virtual collapse of the North Korean economy has caused Kim Jong-il to look towards increasing engagement with the outside world. It is essential that this process is not allowed to die. It is only through engagement, and not through isolation, that change can be encouraged in the North.

There is a feeling in some quarters that engaging with Kim Jong-il only serves to prop up his regime, and that the right thing to do is to isolate Pyongyang. This is a misconceived strategy. The regime in North Korea has thrived on isolation, and its ruling ideology is based on an autarkic self-reliance. Its people have suffered as a result.

It is important for countries in the region, such as Japan, as well as the US and European Union, to demonstrate the benefits to Kim Jong-il of opening to the outside world.

The U.S. has a major role to play in this process. Which is why the region waits with keen anticipation for the Bush administration to announce that it is ready to broadly resume where Mr. Clinton left off.

-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong