I hesitate to use the “E” word again, after all the multiple exchanges of the past few months, but for the present I cannot think of a better one. I remain convinced of the need to engage the DPRK for our benefit as much as for theirs. Ploughing through Victor Cha’s The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future, which sets out what seemed to be the alternatives as seen by American policymakers, has left me even more convinced than I was before.

But I want to look at one particular form of engagement, namely cultural engagement in its