Experts: Kim Shrewdly Rules North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il claps on the balcony as soldiers salute him during a massive military parade, celebrating the foundation of the armed forces in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this April 25, 2002 file photo. North Korea said Monday October 9, 2006, it performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test, claiming it set off a successful underground blast in a "great leap forward" that defied international warnings against the communist regime. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara, FILE) (Katsumi Kasahara - AP)

The North shut down its nuclear reactor and let in international inspectors. The U.S. and other countries were supposed to build the North a nuclear reactor for generating electricity by 2003 and also deliver oil, and Washington and Pyongyang were to eventually establish diplomatic relations.

But just after the agreement, control of Congress shifted to the Republicans, many of whom felt the Clinton administration agreement was appeasing a dictator who could not be trusted.

Construction of the reactor went slowly and reconciliation was halting, and from Kim's point of view, the U.S. failed to live up to its word.

There was trouble at home, too. Natural disasters and the absence of aid once provided by the Soviet Union led to famine that some experts believe killed as many as 2 million people. None of that hardship was felt by Kim, who has foreign chefs to prepare Italian and Japanese delicacies and imports gourmet food and drink.

Kim sent a missile flying over Japan in 1998. That led to condemnation, but also eventually to talks at which the U.S. agreed to ease economic sanctions in exchange for the North declaring a moratorium on long-range missile launches.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright traveled to Pyongyang in October 2000, and President Clinton was even thinking of a visit.

But Kim also is believed to have started a secret uranium enrichment program in the late 1990s, seeking yet another bargaining chip. Technically, that didn't violate the 1994 deal _ which only specifically mentioned plutonium programs _ but it did go against the spirit of the agreement.

Then came the new Bush administration. Kim was cautious. His regime sent condolences over the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.

But in his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush tarred North Korea as a member of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Bush had said privately he loathed Kim for starving his people.

Labeling North Korea in such a way was like "trying to talk to a woman after calling her a prostitute," said Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea analyst at the Sejong Institute outside Seoul.

Despite Bush's stinging words, and possibly fearful after seeing the successful U.S.-led war to topple Afghanistan's Taliban regime, Kim tried to right some wrongs.

In September 2002, North Korea admitted it had abducted Japanese citizens to help teach its spies _ although Pyongyang's claims of how some of the victims died were considered highly suspect.