MICHAEL AUSLIN: It took barely two weeks for North Korea to play its old game of bait and switch, this time gutting the Feb. 29 “Leap Day Agreement” with the Obama administration that promised a moratorium on nuclear and missile testing. In an Ides of March announcement, Pyongyang revealed it would conduct a “satellite launch” on April 15, which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, founder of the North Korean regime.
….In a sense, the Obama administration has only itself to blame for this mess. For three years, it wisely avoided playing Pyongyang’s games. Unlike the Bush administration, which became increasingly desperate to patch holes in a flawed policy of making ever more concessions for little in return, the Obama team kept contact with former leader Kim Jong Il at a minimum, and refused to enter the Alice in Wonderland world of reaching agreement with the North only to face provocation and demands for more concessions.