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The planned high-level inter-Korean talks were called off at the last minute over seemingly minor protocol discord, and I doubt that the recent attempts by the rival Koreas to resume talks will ever succeed. This is because North Korea is very unpredictable. The planned talks were called off at the last minute due to what appeared to be a minor protocol dispute - how high the grade of their respective chief delegates should be.

In an interview, the Swiss delegation head of the NNSC, Urs Gerber, said that one thing he learned was that the only thing that is predictable about North Korea is that it is unpredictable. With this reputation, North Korea¡¯s credibility is hitting rock bottom.

(North Korea changes tack and tells US: Let's talk | Stuff.co.nz)

North Korea's unpredictability is the only reason it's remained independent for the last sixty years. In that regard it's rather like Cuba. A better word would be intransigent. It's what kept Libya free of Western domination until the foreign subversion a couple of years ago too. I'm all in favor of it because the alternative is the subservient abandonment of national sovereignty.