Wishing all of you a happy New Year 2008! May this be the one that Kim Jong-il doesn’t make it past. A reading suggestion; Dave Barry’s year in review (h/t Bodhi).

Hoping you’re all having a Merry Christmas, no matter where you are. It’s a good time to take stock, appreciate the things we have, and plan to help those who are in need.

About two years ago, I wrote about South Korean President-elect Lee Myung-Bak’s “student radical” days and how he came to get his chaebol job despite his prison record, on the now defunct blog The Korea Liberator (archived here).
This episode is fairly well-known in South Korea, but I reproduce much of the original post below for [...]

On my drive home, I was listening to a radio program, in which Korea “experts” were discussing the Lee Myung-Bak victory. Someone from the audience asked the question to the effect of, “With which American presidential candidate would Lee be the most comfortable?”
Experts were stumped, beyond the usual “He will get along with George Bush” [...]

Tomorrow (19 December) South Korea will hold presidential elections and, if the polls can be trusted, it looks like the former mayor of Seoul and Hyundai Construction businessman Lee Myung-bak (이명박) will win.
Unfortunately – and bizarrely, considering the nuclear test was little over a year ago and concentration camps are still operating – North Korea [...]

Update: Thank you to all who have submitted information, it has been a great help.
Original post: Does anyone have current information on how a journalist can interview North Korean defectors in South Korea? I’ve had a request for this information by an American university professor who will be in South Korea doing research, and unfortunately [...]

Received via email 11 December, not yet posted on the web (h/t P):
Question: Did the Department of State have any involvement in the discussions the NY Philharmonic had with the North Koreans about traveling to the DPRK? Are we providing any support for the upcoming trip? (Specifically asked about translators)
Answer: The [...]

Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), sponsor of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, submitted Resolution 399, which calls for requiring several conditions before North Korea can be removed from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring nations:
The resolution urges the administration not to lift the designation until it can be demonstrated that North Korea is no [...]

Asia Times: At least he didn’t call him ‘Dear Leader’ (Don Kirk)
AFP: US Rice: N Korea Must Come Clean On Nuclear Activities
Reuters: North Korea calls U.S. “criminals” days after Bush letter
Bloomberg: North Korea Making Counterfeit Japan Cigarettes, Sankei Says
AP: N Korea nuke disablement on schedule: Hill
VoA: US Says More Talks Needed on North Korea [...]

The Daily NK has two stories that point to the continuing decline of state control and regime influence in North Korea; an increase in unregulated day labor work, and a large number of divorces due to economic reasons (couples that divorce can relocate). Also speculation that Kim Jong-chol, the Dear Leader’s second son, will succeed [...]