A mixture of adventure, altruism and a desire not to be left behind economically is responsible for the European plunge into Korean political affairs that began this year. First Italy and then, in rapid succession, Belgium, Britain and Germany have dispatched missions to Pyongyang. Only France held back, citing human-rights and nuclear-proliferation concerns. Even the European Union dispatched a mission. And although only Italy and Britain have actually tied the knot so far, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium have all announced their intention of normalizing relations with Pyongyang soon.

Actually, setting up shop in Pyongyang is not for the faint-hearted and no one has done it to date. The preferred method has been to rely on ambassadors accredited in Beijing to make the rounds. Change, however, is on the horizon. The British will station a charge d'affaires in Seoul accredited to Pyongyang, while the Netherlands and Belgium intend to go it one better, accrediting a single envoy to both Korean capitals, albeit resident in Seoul. Such dual accreditation makes a lot of sense; it's closer and, in theory, easier to reach Pyongyang from Seoul than from Beijing. And it will be cheaper as well, when the railroad/highway project across the DMZ linking the two Koreas is completed next year.

Paradoxically, even without formal diplomatic relations with most of the EU, North Korea has had its share of the diplomatic limelight. Though absent from the Asia-Europe Meeting in October in Seoul, it was the focal point of both attention and controversy as France, Britain and Germany sparred over conflicting priorities and timetables in the normalization race, assigning different weights to human rights and nonproliferation as preconditions.