AP Photo

It wasn't the case 69 years ago tomorrow, Dec. 7. But generally, it's a good thing when two countries' leaders or diplomats talk to each other regularly.

So, late Sunday night Washington time, Monday in China, President Obama telephoned Hu Jintao, the president of China whom he just chatted with last month in Seoul (see photo above). The subject was North Korea, the decrepit, starving geographic buffer between China and South Korea. The North has been misbehaving again, as it often does to cover internal leadership struggles or to acquire more fuel oil.