But since August 1998, North Korea has not launched a long-range missile. It recently extended indefinitely the test-launch moratorium it implemented 15 months ago. Negotiations are underway right now with the objective of curtailing North Korea's development and export of long-range missiles. Now the pessimists say that North Korea will never agree to forego development, deployment, or export of long-range ballistic missiles. They have been wrong on all counts.
All evidence points to a North Korean leader who is intelligent, rational, and coldly calculating.
Not the type of guy who gets up on the wrong side of bed in the morning and decides to ensure the complete annihilation of his country by launching a few nuclear missiles at the United States. The fact is, North Korea is in a world of hurt since the collapse of the Soviet Union. China is the North's major trading partner and aid donor, and it has successfully urged North Korea to engage with South Korea and curtail its missile testing. But I doubt it. China is acting in its own self interest.