REALLY? – AT 11:15 A.M. ET:  The North Koreans have begun 2010 by asking for better relations with the United States.  That's like the Mafia asking for better relations with the FBI.  The New York Times reports:

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea called on Friday for an end to “the hostile relationship” with the United States, issuing a New Year’s message that highlighted the reclusive country’s attempt to readjust the focus of six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

In an editorial carried by its major state media outlets, North Korea said that its consistent stand was “to establish a lasting peace system on the Korean Peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations.” The editorial added that “the fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability” was “to put an end to the hostile relationship” with the United States.

The sequence of easing tension with Washington, establishing a peace regime and then denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula has been shaping up as the North’s policy approach before it re-engages in talks about giving up its nuclear weapons, according to officials and analysts in Seoul.

And...

If peace talks begin, North Korea will likely demand normalized ties, significant food and energy aid and even the pullout of American troops from South Korea as a precondition for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, according to analysts in Seoul.

COMMENT:  What a joke, although it will probably impress the left fringe of the president's party.  The North Koreans are essentially saying that they want to remake the Korean peninsula before engaging in the kind of serious nuclear negotiations that would actually make the remake possible.

This New Year's message was softer than previous ones, but the basic line remained the same.  We have made virtually no progress in our "outreach" to the North Koreans.  Ditto Iran.

January 1, 2010