Nor, despite the rhetoric, can the correct decision simply be deduced from Juche theory. It requires hard thinking - and fierce argument. Never more so than now, when North Korea faces momentous choices. Behind the mask of unity, in smoke-filled rooms, North Korea's leaders must ponder these questions. Both sides of each argument will have doughty defenders.
Reformers believe just as fervently that it is the old hard line which risks collapse.
They want to make peace and make money, or at least go the way of China. This is no abstract debate, but a matter of life and death for North Korea. Now the argument is coming to a head. But different articles recently have taken such contrary lines that it is impossible not to notice. On January 1, as always, Pyongyang's party, army, and youth newspapers published a joint editorial setting tasks for the year ahead.