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Not everyone is self-destructive in this fashion, of course, but there are sufficient numbers sometimes to affect the course of human history. Certainly we cannot always rely on the pursuit of their self-interest to assess the likely course of the conduct of others, which is why the explosion of an H-bomb by North Korea (if it turns out to be true, and not just a Potemkin bomb) is so disturbing. No one who has been to North Korea could have many illusions as to what such a regime is capable of.

The North Korean regime is all-or-nothing. You can”€™t worship Kim Il Sung (President for Eternity) just a little. The leaders are either in power or they are dead. Neither of its immediate neighbors wants the regime to collapse, fearing a flood of starving refugees more than they fear an all-out attack. It is difficult to know what the best policy toward such a state should be, Seoul being only an artillery barrage away from it.

Perhaps we should offer the 1,000 highest people in the hierarchy (and their families) a golden asylum in Estoril, Rome, and France in general”€”the resorts of deposed European monarchs such as King Zog of Albania”€”and promise China and South Korea to share out evenly whatever refugees the collapse of the regime would result in. The Koreans are just the kind of immigrants Europe needs: hardworking, docile, intelligent, capable, and probably immunized against ideology by their long experience of it. They would be bewildered at first, but would soon find their feet and become an asset to their new countries.