Two final comments:
・ in the interests of time and in light of the composition of the audience, I have not addressed the interests of Japan and China in any detail.
・ the link between material deprivation and political instability like the New York premature obituary of Mark Twain, reports of North Korea' s demise have been a great exagerration.
That said, the historical record suggests that political change does not occur in the midst of famines, it occurs when famines are over.
Ironically, despite
・ the euphoria surrounding the summit,
・ the apparent stabilization of the North Korean economy, and
・ initiation of reform and opening
we could actually be entering a more potentially dangerous period of instability than what we have observed for the past 5 years.
