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Following this fruitless exchange, Guthrie raised human rights. He mentioned the appalling accounts from prisons, and the BBC documentary that alleged the lethal testing of chemical weapons on people.

The minister responded by saying: “Human rights in North Korea cannot easily be measured by a western yardstick.”

He explained that the first human right was national sovereignty and self-determination, without which life had no meaning.

“So our government provides the people with the rights of eating, housing, clothing, medical care, education. These are important rights. Therefore the state provides the right to life and the people’s right to exist.”

“I am shocked when you say human rights is about the right to exist,” countered Guthrie. “It is about much more than that. It is about dignity. It is about quality of life. It is about fairness. It is about freedom of choice.”

Who knows if the minister had his own thoughts. Flanked by attentive comrades, his job was to give the unbending party line. It seemed to our delegation that the regime’s very existence depended on the American threat. Perhaps if the US pulled its troops out of South Korea, then bereft of its number one enemy, the Kim dynasty’s “military-first policy” and whole ideological structure would collapse.

But there was a chink of light, and it came from an unprecedented meeting with senior officers of the Korean People’s Army, including General Kim Sang Ik, the vice- minister of the People’s Armed Forces. He and Guthrie took thrones at one end of a large room, facing directly ahead rather than each other, and with their respective delegations down each flank of the room.

As General Kim sat impassively, the impression one got was of an ancient warlord of the Koryo dynasty who had shaved off his long white beard and swapped his battle robes and helmet for a well-pressed number two uniform.

Guthrie clearly engaged Kim, stirring him to smile, laugh and — on tougher subjects — to cough, hawk and turn in his seat in disdain. But once again the North Korean side had nothing to say on human rights or humanitarian issues and on the nuclear question there were no surprises: “It is all down to the USA.”

The prize came when Guthrie commented how useful interaction between soldiers could be and that if high-level exchanges could not be achieved then low-level exchanges might bear fruit. He suggested a sporting exchange. Immediately Kim warmed to the idea. “We like boxing,” he said, “and taekwondo.” “We can certainly do boxing,” responded Guthrie, “but if you challenge us to taekwondo then we will reciprocate with cricket.”

Or how about football? As political dialogue never gets beyond kick-off, perhaps the beautiful game could build towards better understanding? It might never happen, but where the idiosyncrasies of North Korea are concerned, a wild card like this might be the best one on the table.

James Mawdsley served in the secretariat of the British-North Korean all-party parliamentary group for 2003-4. He was imprisoned in Burma in 1999 for handing out pro-democracy leaflets and spent more than a year in solitary confinement before being released under diplomatic pressure. He is author of The Heart Must Break: the Fight for Truth and Democracy in Burma, published by Century