It’s official: The Bush administration’s North Korea policy has entered the realm of the absurd.After a three-day State Department trip to the Hermit Kingdom to check on disarmament progress, U.S. diplomats are beginning to figure out that Pyongyang will likely miss a year-end deadline for declaring all its hidden nuclear programs. Oh well. South Korea’s foreign minister says it’s time to be “flexible.” Christopher Hill, the State Department’s uber-optimist, says the important thing is that “actual work is on the ground in Yongbyon and is proceeding very much on schedule.”

Translation: Any provision of a deal with North Korea is optional just as long as the North Koreans decide not to meet it.

To make matters worse, the U.S. seems to be unilaterally warming relations before it sees any progress. State has secretly posted a man in the Kyoro Hotel in Pyongyang, the first diplomatic representation in the country since 1953 — and won’t explain why. President Bush sent a letter to Kim Jong Il last week, promising to normalize relations if Pyongyang comes clean.

But with this kind of pandering, why should it?

Source: Mary Kissel at OpinionJournal’s Political Diary [Subscription]