No joke in Korea

However real and deeply moving were the emotions of North and South Korean families reunited this week in Seoul and Pyongyang, the events themselves were a well-scripted gesture in public relations for the leaders of two countries whose half-century standoff seems badly dated in a post-Cold War world. Rather than this touching moment leading to greater openness for notoriously closed North Korea, it could just as easily lead to more of the recent weird statecraft from North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Il over his ballistic missile program.

It was reported last month that meetings between Mr. Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin had produced an intriguing proposal: If the West would give North Korea help launching peaceful satellites, Mr. Kim would get out of the ballistic missile business, which not only makes his country a threat but spreads these weapons to other dangerous nations. It was a surprising offer; it was a suggestion that Mr. Kim was willing to change North Korea’s status as a perpetual rogue nation. It was also, apparently, a joke.

Mr. Kim now says, weeks after President Putin publicly discussed the deal, that the proposal was merely a “laughing subject,” a joke about ways to save the $200 million to $300 million it costs for each rocket. Now, Mr. Kim says, “Why would I need to XXXcourtXXX bigger countries? If I sit here in Pyongyang, many from powerful nations come to me.”

Besides confirming at one point that he was selling missiles to Syria and Iran, his most recent remarks make clear that any negotiations with Mr. Kim must operate on the old U.S.-Soviet model of “Don’t trust, verify, then verify again.” Given the devastation in North Korea from food shortages, Mr. Kim’s joke – if it was that and not merely a change of mind – shows a leader disconnected both from his people and from other world leaders. More reunions have been proposed for Korean families so long separated by war and ideology, and there certainly will be more emotionally charged scenes of mothers or fathers and children apart for decades brought together again. They are important reminders of the harm caused by a deep political divide. But Mr. Kim’s behavior precludes anyone from assuming that the meetings will help pull North Korea out of its chronic intransigence.