comment is free  Sun continues to shine  Bit by bit, the
tensions on the Korean peninsula are easing. Yesterday it was
announced that the leaders of north and south would meet for a
two day summit, the first in seven years, later this month. In
July, the communist regime shut down its sole nuclear reactor
and promised to make a full disclosure of its nuclear programme.
The next grand gesture could be a summit to declare the end of
the Korean war, which, technically, continues to this day: only
an armistice was signed when hostilities ended in 1953.  The
last time the leaders of north and south met, in 2000, the then-
president of South Korea Kim Dae-jung was simultaneously
showered in international glory and drenched in domestic
ignominy. Kim got a Nobel peace prize for his sunshine policy,
but struggled to justify the hundreds of millions of dollars he
passed to the north to pave the way for the summit. This time
round, president Roh Moo-hyun has promised transparency and full
disclosure, even so far as makin