Best Place to Contemplate North Korea

Chairman Mao used to say that China and North Korea were "closer than lips and teeth." But take in the view of the Hermit Kingdom, across the Yalu River from the bustling Manchurian city of Dandong, and it's clear just how far apart the old communist brotherhood has grown. Sinuiju, the North Korean town on the other side of the Yalu, languishes in Cold War drabness. Soldiers, bundled in army-green coats, stamp in the cold as gray-clad dockworkers tend rusting boats. A few old factory stacks belch black smoke?and at night, the town is eerily dark, with nary a lightbulb in...