It's odd how Seoul pushes for economic deals with Pyongyang—this time a joint fishing zone straddling the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea—when it desperately wants to avoid precipitous reunification. Anyway, Pyongyang continues with an old tune to avoid giving up too much to Seoul.

The North's Kim said his country was ready to work out a peace treaty to formally end the war but not before a new maritime border had been drawn and the United States had pledged non-aggression against his country.

"Efforts must be made to eradicate the U.S. hostile policy against the North," Kim said. Washington has pledged not to attack North Korea.

Fishing might be out, but shipping is welcome.

North Korean graphite material made at an inter-Korean joint venture factory is being shipped to South Korea, the Commerce Ministry said Friday.

The 200-ton shipment from the factory near the city of Haeju left the North Korean port of Nampo earlier in the day and is expected to reach Incheon on Saturday, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said.

“The shipment is significant because it is the first time that products made from minerals in the North have been shipped to the South after being manufactured at an inter-Korean joint venture company,” a ministry official said. The graphite can be made into heat-resistant bricks, pencils, ceramic melting pots and car brake linings.

Of course, that's easier to make propapganda from when North Koreans believe the South Korean shipping industry is collapsing.