Keeping North Korea Afloat

A North Korea that for decades posed before the world as a paradise on earth has again been forced to admit that it desperately needs food for its 24 million people and must appeal for international help. The United States is among those ready to lend a hand, with President Clinton approving the export of up to 500,000 metric tons of wheat to its old enemy. But Pyongyang’s negotiations on a barter deal with the big U.S. grain firm Cargill Inc. have not been easy. North Korea has refused to go ahead with political talks involving the United States and South Korea until a deal is set.

North Korea’s economy has shrunk by as much as 30% since 1990 and two years of severe flooding have pushed it still closer to collapse. But the potential implosion of the last Stalinist state is now a cause for concern rather than satisfaction in South Korea and the United States. The worry, as Adm. Joseph Prueher, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, put it this week, is that a collapse could produce a reckless lashing out against South Korea--and the 37,000 American troops stationed there.

So even in a state of acute weakness, North Korea retains political leverage. The decision made in Washington and Seoul is to try to keep it at least minimally viable as a nation while hoping it will become more open to international influences and more moderate in domestic and regional affairs. That’s a sound approach, given the alternatives. The question, as always, is whether North Korea’s leaders will go along with such an evolutionary change.