Your Move, Mr. Kim

In October 1994, the U.S. and North Korea concluded a tense, two-year standoff with an accord that seemed to usher in a new era of cooperation in North Asia. By signing a deal called the Agreed Framework, the U.S. promised to provide impoverished North Korea with energy assistance. In exchange, the North agreed to halt production of plutonium that could be used to make nuclear weapons. Countries in the Stalinist state's menacing nuclear shadow breathed easier as then President Bill Clinton congratulated his envoys for coaxing the backward dictatorship toward joining the global community. On the day the agreement was signed,...