The peculiar pragmatism of Pyongyang.

I met Mr. Yoon at my hotel in Pyongyang in the spring of 1999. With his lightly accented English and well-tailored suit, he seemed indistinguishable from the other South Korean businessmen prospecting for deals in the North. What should have clued me in, though, was that the other businessmen at the Potonggang Hotel--an Australian working with the North Korean military on a gold mining project, a Sri Lankan working for a German clothing company--seemed to be avoiding the South Korean. Pyongyang is such a challenging place to do business that English-speakers will usually gravitate…