Pyongyang opens its doors a bit more

Nowhere has the challenge of post-Cold War diplomacy been more vexing, nor the stakes higher, than in the Korean peninsula. Foreign correspondents have, in the past, routinely used expressions such as "ticking time bomb" to describe the situation there. It would be an exaggeration to suggest that the Korean time bomb is about to be defused. But certain contentious issues are being settled amicably by the two Koreas.

In the latest such initiative, a Korean Air cargo jet became the first commercial South Korean aircraft to cross North Korean- controlled airspace since the 1950-1953 Korean War. It was not the first commercial flight through North Korean air space. A Cathay Pacific cargo flight arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday morning having made the historic 20-minute flyover.

It is obvious that North Korea's decision to open its airline routes to South Korea was driven by the country's need for money. The authorities in Pyongyang have little choice these days. North Korea is the only country in East Asia in such a desperate state of poverty.

Still, this is one more step in the opening up of North Korea, a process which began several years back when Pyongyang opened the door a crack to tourists from the noncommunist world.

The best way forward for North Korea is to gradually open its doors to foreign investment in the way China has done. There is much that Pyongyang can learn from Beijing. And there are a lot of people in South Korea and elsewhere who are prepared to bring North Korea into the global mainstream.

-- The Hong Kong Standard