From the Joongang Ilbo: “Instead of a summit in the United States requested by Washington, President Roh Moo-hyun will try to meet U.S. President George Bush on the sidelines of a forum next month in Australia. . . the inter-Korean summit with Roh and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was moved to early October it caused other scheduling problems.”
After missile and nuclear tests and uranium enrichment, the U.S. sanctions North Korean firms while Pyongyang reverses, making overtures. It’s not an accident, it’s a pattern of strategic disengagement.
- #Vanity Fair, of all publications, has a lengthy article on North Korea’s counterfeiting operations, including Office 39. Well worth a read. (h/t NE Asia Matters)
- #The Chosun Ilbo has an article about a new book by Chang Jin-song (formerly affiliated with the North Korean Workers' Party) that details Kim Jong-il private life, including the inside scoop on all his lady friends. According to Chang, one unfortunate young lady to get Kim's attention was, "brutally executed after she spurned Kim's persistent advances and fell in love with another man."
- #Gizmodo has an excellent array of Kim Jong-il photos; In Which We Provoke Kim Jong Il in 77 Offensive and Hilarious Ways. Some are sure to become often used classics.
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August 27th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
[...] Never mind that going ahead with Arirang and cancelling the summit would have been almost the height of bad manners. Almost, but not quite. [...]