The wheeling-dealing has begun:
The North has said it is willing to halt and close the 5-megawatt reactor in its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon and accept inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency, the Hankook Ilbo reported from Washington, citing an unidentified State Department official.
The North’s “conditions” include its long-standing call […]
From the CT Blog: “It is not a popular thing to say in public circles, but there is a growing awareness of the the nature of the Islamist threat to the United States and the West in the Pentagon and elsewhere. In an interview with the Washington Times, Brig. Gen. Mark O. Schissler, deputy […]
On 5 December the Senate Armed Services Committee interviewed Robert Gates on a variety of DoD issues, including three questions each directly related to North Korea and South Korea (PDF):
Question: What is your assessment of the current security situation on the Korean peninsula and the diplomatic efforts to date to persuade North Korea to […]
Yesterday Robert brought us a rumor from Korean language press that:
A government source told Yonhap that it looks like transfer of the U.S. garrison at Yongsan to Pyeongtaek, originally scheduled to take place in 2007, would be delayed by five years to late 2013.
Today the news is in the English language Yonhap:
“It is impossible […]
Below is an initial report from ITAR-TASS on the beating of three North Korean export slaves laborers:
The incident occurred on Sunday night in one of the city’s densely-populated districts known as “military road”. A group of young people attacked three Korean builders, inflicting heavy injuries on them. One of the victims died on Monday. […]
Yonhap: NK to have over 50 nuclear weapons by 2010: retired general
Reuters: Protests to delay U.S. base move in S.Korea: ministry
Japan Today: China proposes creating 4 working groups at NK nuke talks
Reuters: Rice says no firm deadline for six-party talks
Korea Times: Resilient Measures to Match N. Korea’s Nuke Abandonment
Daily Iowan: Expert advocates […]
From the Korea Times:
A Chinese diplomat at the wheel of a car with diplomatic license plates refused to take a breathalyzer. . . The police asked the Chinese diplomat to provide a breath test and to show his identification card. . . But he refused until officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and […]
From the Dong-a Ilbo: “President of the Families of Abducted and Detained in North Korea, confirmed yesterday at a press conference, ‘A former South Korean soldier surnamed Kim is currently staying in a third country. He crossed the North Korean border at around 10 p.m. on June 14. He joined the South Korean army in August 1951 at age 17. He is now 74 years old.’”
- #GI Korea has an excellent and lengthy post on the background, events, and aftermath of the 2002 accident where a U.S. armored vehicle killed to schoolgirls. I arrived in Korea a few days after the accident, but things didn't start to heat up until two months later, as I was returning to the States.
- #Via Reuters: “…there was strong suspicion a huge shipment of methamphetamines seized at the former U.S. navy base of Subic north of Manila this week came from clandestine drugs laboratories in North Korea.” The Joker took over Batman’s abandoned cave.
- #From TimesOnline: "THE first case of murder and suicide caused by North Korea’s new food crisis has emerged with the account of a man who killed his hungry wife and children and then took his own life in despair." This report can't be confirmed, but it is entirely plausible.
- #