
By Richard Walker*
If President Barack Obama continues to promise that diplomacy will be his preferred strategy in international affairs, the North Koreans will happily keep him to his word while they continue building nuclear weapons and making billions of dollars annually smuggling weapons across the globe.
The wily N. Koreans see diplomacy as a means to a never ending succession of talks, promises, broken agreements and financial inducements from the West. They have become so adept at fooling the United States that the diplomatic efforts of Obama will be yet another challenge they will surely relish and feel they can handle with the utmost confidence.
In 2007, the N. Koreans engaged in six-party talks,