Lights off, nobody free

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Channel last weekend, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld shared a tour of his Pentagon office suite and the mementos that surround him every day. One caught my attention.

Rumsfeld keeps beneath the glass on one of his tables an outer-space view of North and South Korea at night. The photo illustrates the illuminated night sky in the southern state, a grid of electrified civilization that snakes across the democratic nation. To the north, all is black, save Pyongyang, the only location in North Korea generating enough light to be seen from space.

This photo is telling in so many ways. It illustrates the political and intellectual darkness smothering the people of North Korea. It depicts the product of years of tyrannical and maniacal repression by a brutal dynasty of dictators. The photo illustrates the dichotomy between liberty and oppression, discourse and censorship, and open hands and clenched fists.

As Mr. Rumsfeld said, North and South Koreans are common people who share a common heritage. The photo proves that, given the freedom to choose and the motivation to do so, any people can accomplish extraordinary things. In North Korea, though, progress is choked by the government's stranglehold.

South Korea is a beacon of hope, and let us all pray its light someday will shine on North Korea, too.