It has been an underpinning of U.S. policy and a premise of the Perry report that a South-North dialogue is central to peace and stability on the peninsula.

If the Security Council takes any punitive action, like economic sanctions, North Korea has said this is tantamount to going to war.

Do you find a debate about Nazism at Auschwitz? Do you find a debate about the North and the South at Gettysburg?

The Shiites in the south and the Kurds in the north would need to join together, but the Kurds are more interested in independence. Iran, Syria and Turkey are unlikely to support an independent Kurd state because of their significant Kurdish populations, and others in Iraq will not support overthrowing Saddam if they think it will result in a breakup of the country.

Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.

It's our policy to keep the parents in the loop.