With a great deal of unwarranted optimism, the current left-leaning government of South Korea invited its northern neighbor, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, to participate in the present Olympic games. While this policy is much vaunted by commentators worldwide as the omen of an impending time of peace, or at least an end to nuclear sabre-rattling, the naivete shown by the support for this false reconciliation is dangerously misguided.

In the last few years, the world has become increasingly aware of the danger posed by the North Korean regime. In the last year, particularly, the combination of nuclear and missile testing by the DPRK, and an increasingly erratic American leadership have galvanized, to the extent that such an occurrence is possible, the will of the UN Security Council, with slightly more painful sanction being applied and the consensus that the DPRK is a pariah state solidifying.

The present opening to the DPRK instigated by South Korea is spectacularly ill-timed. The North has shown no inclination towards remorse, nor has it shown a willingness to change its despotic and totalitarian ways. It remains a hereditary Marxist monarchy – the private prison of a tyrannical 34 year-old – where life and death are determined at the hands of a capricious dictator.

It should be clear that the DPRK will not change its ways due to a rapprochement with the South. It does not want democratization, nor Korean reunification on any terms but its own. No previous attempts to open South Korea to the North have led to improved behavior. Committing to such a policy once more is akin to giving a petulant child sweets as a reward for his bad behavior – except that this child is a rogue state and has nuclear weapons.

It has often been observed that no state that claims to be either “democratic” or a “people’s” republic is neither democratic nor of the people. North Korea claims both superlatives – thus it is no surprise that the DPRK is one of the most apprehensive regimes in the world. It was folly for South Korea to begin this misguided rapprochement; it would be inexcusable for this policy to continue.