Of course we are all happy for Aijaion Gomes and his family now that he is out of that North Korean prison and back home in Boston. And grateful to former President Jimmy Carter for being such an effective and respected go-between. But if you’re Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that happiness and gratitude has to be tempered.
Whether it’s adventurist hikers in Iran or evangelicals in North Korea, their entries were illegal. That Iran and North Korea choose to overreact is par for the repressive course, but it’s their call. And thanks to such fortuitous incursions–whether out of carelessness, naiveté or personal agenda–into their sovereign territory, they get to reap the benefits of leverage and, in the case of Pyongyang, the opportunity to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington. That can’t please the State Department, which is hardly obstacle-challenged in dealing with both of these rogue regimes.