What is Google Chairman Eric Schmidt doing in N. Korea?

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The AP has the story:

Eric Schmidt will be traveling to North Korea on a private trip led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The sources, two people familiar with the group’s plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public.

Why?…

With the recent death of Kim Jong Il, there is a new sheriff in town so to speak. His son, Kim Jong Un, is the youngest head of state in the world and was educated in the West as the Internet was coming of age. Perhaps the nation is ready to start making some baby steps to getting its populace online.

With Chromebooks starting at $199 and Android devices at around $50 these days, no other company would be better suited to putting a vast swath of the population online than Google.

But, there is that little matter of “Don’t be evil” and the China spying affair.

The United States also doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with the reclusive communist country and forbids U.S. companies like Google from doing business there.

It would be surprising not to see Schmidt confidant, former State Department official, and Google Ideas head, Jared Cohen, not tagging along.