Dear Leader Regrets...
Hatched by Dafydd

Evidently, the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-Il, "regrets" the nuclear test. That's what he told the Chinese.

In fact, he regrets the test so much, he's even willing to return to the six-party talks... provided the United States grants unilateral, pre-negotiation concessions of, well, every concession North Korea has demanded in the past before returning to the table:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed regret about his country's nuclear test to a Chinese delegation and said Pyongyang would return to international nuclear talks if Washington backs off a campaign to financially isolate the country, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday.

"If the U.S. makes a concession to some degree, we will also make a concession to some degree, whether it be bilateral talks or six-party talks," Kim was quoted as telling a Chinese envoy, the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo reported, citing a diplomatic source in China.

Of course, they've always returned to the six-party talks anyway, even without such concessions. But only long enough to leave again and commit some provocative act: test-firing a missile (that topples over and crashes into the ocean), setting off a nuclear bomb (that fizzles faster than Democratic electoral hopes), or shooting an old missile they bought from China right across the Japanese mainland. Then they offer to return. In exchange for, shall we say, a few concessions?

So what specifically does the Democratic People's Republic of Korea want this time? Why, it's quite simple; painless, really: ...

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China To Cut Off Kim's Oil
Ed Morrissey

China has begun to consider an energy embargo on North Korea, a step that almost certainly would cause the Kim regime to face serious domestic pushback in Pyongyang. If Kim does not return to the six-party talks, North Korea will start getting darker than that satellite picture making the rounds:

China is prepared to step up pressure on North Korea in coming weeks by reducing oil shipments, among other measures, if the country refuses to return to negotiations or conducts more nuclear tests, Chinese government advisers and scholars who have discussed the matter with the leadership say.

If Beijing does take a tougher line on its neighbor and longtime ally, the action is likely to bolster its relationship with the United States. Washington has urged Chinese leaders to use all the tools at their disposal to put additional pressure on Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader.

Among the most potent of those tools is oil. China provides an estimated 80 to 90 percent of North Korea’s oil imports, shipped by pipeline at undisclosed prices that Chinese officials say represent a steep discount from the world market price. Any reduction in that aid could severely hamper North Korea’s already faltering economy. ...

Why does China want to cooperate with the US, which it sees as a rival in the Pacific Rim? For one thing, they do not want to see the region nuclearize, especially Japan, and China understands that America is the only nation that can keep that from happening.  ...

I won’t, or maybe I will, back down
Bryan Preston

Lil Kim says he’s sorry:

North Korea’s leader is reportedly regretting his country’s nuclear test.

A South Korean newspaper reports Kim Jong II told a Chinese delegation that “he is sorry about the nuclear test.”

He also said Pyongyang would return to international nuclear talks if the United States backs off a campaign to financially isolate the country.

That “campaign to financially isolate the country” is aimed at stopping North Korea from attacking the US by counterfeiting our money and using that currency both to buy hardware and to diminish worldwide faith in the dollar. I doubt we’ll back off that campaign. So his apology isn’t as heartfelt as it might appear at first. It’s a softer version of more of the same.

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I Aporogize for My Nucurar Test
James Taranto

"North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed regret about his country's nuclear test to a Chinese delegation," the Associated Press reports:

"If the U.S. makes a concession to some degree, we will also make a concession to some degree, whether it be bilateral talks or six-party talks," Kim was quoted as telling a Chinese envoy, the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo reported, citing a diplomatic source in China.

Kim told the Chinese delegation that "he is sorry about the nuclear test," the newspaper reported.

Blogger "China Hand" theorizes that "North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear antics are an effort to demand attention, respect, and assistance from the PRC," the People's Republic of China:

North Korea's weapons programs are meant to discommode China with the threat of a Asian arms race and the specter of Japan becoming a pro-active regional security force with US backing, and remind Beijing of the necessity of advancing North Korea's interests on the world stage--in this particular case, getting China to support lifting some onerous U.S. financial sanctions.

Well, I believe China's looked at its options and opportunities and decided that the best riposte to North Korea's nuclear program is to strip Pyongyang of its independence in national defense and foreign affairs--in other words, assert virtually the same suzerainty that China imposed on the peninsula before the Japanese occupation in 1895.

If true, Kim must be feeling awfully ronery, and this would explain Kim's abjection before Beijing. Hand also argues that China has become increasingly friendly with South Korea: "In Beijing's plans for a prosperous, pro-Chinese Korean peninsula, cooperation with the South Korean powerhouse looms large." China is now South Korea's biggest trading partner, and anti-American sentiment has been growing in the south.

"What I believe China wants is a North Korean regime that is profoundly isolated, helpless, and totally reliant on Chinese good offices to survive," Hand adds. "By this reading, the United States could profit from the estrangement between China and North Korea by embarking on a swift rapprochement with Pyongyang. Instead, we are doing everything within our power to force North Korea under China's heel and, in the process, perpetuate the existence of the same failed North Korean system--and regime--that we have sworn to destroy."

Nevertheless, it does seem that China is putting pressure on Kim to behave himself, and, according to SecState Rice, sent him a “strong message” by joining the UN resolutions against North Korea. We’ll see.

Democrats and, according to one very suspect poll 70% of Americans, want the US to chat up Kim under the misimpression that he’s a reasonable man who can be reasoned with. ...