If it fails, there will be nothing left to stop the country’s already drastic downward course from accelerating into a plummet – towards economic collapse, famine and political crisis.Since the disintegration of the Communist bloc, North Koreahas found itself alone, the last of the old Stalinist dictatorships, surrounded by hostile or indifferent neighbours Since 1991 the economy has shrunk by 30 per cent. It must be one of the most beautiful industrial areas in the world, for the simple reason that it has almost no functioning industry.
You can be forgiven if you have never heard of the Rajin-Sonbong Fetz. Forty-three years after the Korean war, which divided the Communist north of the country from the American- backed south, it is still one of the remotest corners of Asia’s most isolated country. Rajin – Seen early in the morning, from the deck of a ship in the Sea of Japan, North Korea is a glum and beautiful country.

It looks more like the west of Scotland than Asia, with small islands and promontories breaking up the grey sea, and bleak, low mountains with straggly trees along their ridges An empty road and a railway line runalong the coast. At the head of an inlet is a small city, with grey low-rise buildings. This is Rajin, the gateway to the grandly named Rajin-Sonbong Free Economic and Trade Zone (Fetz). As of yesterday, however, no decision had been made to curtail the docked phase of the 10-day mission.Once back on Earth, Ms Lucid’s life at first will not be easy. During her half year in the gravity- free conditions aboard Mir, she will have lost weight, as well as muscle and bone strength.

She will be taken off the shuttle in a chair, and is unlikely to be walking properly for at least a fortnight.. She is said to have borne her disappointments with a stoicism worthy of her Russian colleagues – deliberately chosen, according to the Mir programme manager Valery Ryumin, “because they are strong enough to show no feelings when receiving bad news”.Indeed, more problems could yet be on the way, with the failure of one of Atlantis’s three hydraulic power units minutes after lift-off on Monday. The units are not used in space, but are crucial for shuttle landings. Although the craft could probably land with just one functioning unit, Nasa always likes to have two working back-ups. Ms Lucid, a biochemist who has been aboard Mir since 22 March, had been due to return at the beginning of August. But first a mechanical problem, and then two hurricanes delayed Atlantis’s blast-off from the Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida.

By the time she returns to Earth on 26 September, she will have spent 188 days in space, a record both for a woman and a US astronaut of either sex.
By all accounts she has endured the ordeal in sterling fashion. Although regular e-mail and video contact with her family have made her existence more bearable, she has had to put up not only with the repeated delays in her homecoming, but also some male chauvinist Slav humour from Russian space officials (Mir would remain in pristine condition with Ms Lucid aboard, one said, “because women love to clean”).Of late, however, even the Russians have been fulsome in their praise of their uncomplaining guest. At last the United States cavalry is arriving to rescue Shannon Lucid. Barring yet another last minute glitch, the space shuttle Atlantis will dock with the space station Mir today to ferry the 53-year American woman home after a record-breaking six months’ confinement in her orbiting Russian hotel

Originally, such a marathon was not intended. Mr Dole wants four, not three debates, but each of them 60 instead of 90 minutes in length.. The Clinton camp wants the first debate, currently set for St Louis on 26 September, put back until the start of October. Two out of three Americans, according to the polls, want to see Mr Perot, who is receiving $30m (pounds 20m) of federal funds on the basis of his 1992 performance, go head-to-head against Mr Clinton and Mr Dole, and yesterday’s ruling will generate not only controversy, but possibly a swell of sympathy in favour of Mr Perot.Yesterday, meanwhile, Clinton and Dole representatives met in a new effort to agree on dates and format for the debates.

This however would require a surge in his support, or overwhelming public demand that he be included.The latter, and not the courts, may offer the Perot camp its best hope of overturning what campaign co-ordinator Russell Verney called “a travesty of justice”. But, given the opposition of the Republicans, that seemed inconceivable yesterday. Less inconceivable, however, is that Mr Clinton debates Mr Perot one-to-one, a ploy aimed at increasing the Texan’s stature and appeal – thus, the White House calculates, his ability to split the anti-Clinton vote.Mr Fahrenkopf said the recommendation applies only to the first of the three scheduled debates, and that “if circumstances changed”, Mr Perot might be allowed in. This time, however, Mr Perot is stuck at 5 per cent or thereabouts.Candidates could not qualify simply because “they were interesting or entertaining”, Mr Fahrenkopf said; the commission had made an “unvarnished” judgement of Mr Perot’s prospects, and found them wanting.In theory, the decision could be reversed should the two major parties want Mr Perot to participate.