I have a question, and I'd welcome any responses from readers who might have an answer. Earlier this month the American evangelical Christian leader Franklin Graham and some of his colleagues flew on a chartered Boeing 747 from Charlotte, North Carolina to Pyongyang. It was billed as the first direct flight from the U.S. to the North Korean capital in half a century, and I have no reason to doubt that's true. Grahama's charity, known as Samaritan's Purse, brought 75 tons of humanitarian aid (valued at $8 million) - a response to the recent bout of flooding that has triggered the latest in the North's long string of national catastrophes.

What I'd like to know is whether Graham was combining that entirely worthy gesture with a bit of practical politics.