She came, which is something. She saw, if not much. But alas, she did not conquer.

Disappointment goes with the territory in inter-Korean relations. Even so, the complete waste of time which former ROK First Lady Lee Hee-ho’s four-day visit to Pyongyang turned out to be is especially galling, considering the high hopes which – foolishly, perhaps – hung upon it.

Some background first. Lee Hee-ho – also Romanized as Lee Hui ho; in Korean 이희호 – is a remarkable woman, now aged 92 (or 93 as Koreans count; she was born in September 1922).

A Christian leaderin her