The Great North Korean Thaw?

What's up with Lil' Kim and the gang over in North Korea? First, they release two American journalists who they accused of "hostile acts." Then they send their condolences to South Korea on the death of Kim Dae-jung, and plan to send a delegation to the funeral, an unusual show of diplomacy between the two countries who are technically still at war. And then, they set up a meeting with Bill Richardson, out of the clear blue sky:

Senior North Korean diplomats are heading to meet with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday, opening a new front in informal discussions the country has sought in recent days.

The two diplomats, who are with the North Korean mission to the United Nations, sought out Richardson for the latest encounter, an official said. Richardson is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He last visited North Korea two years ago, on a mission to retrieve the remains of Korean War veterans.

The DPRK has not committed to returning to six-party talks. But there are a lot more constructive actions going on now than when they were firing off rockets every two weeks. Perhaps the nuclear tests actually failed? Maybe Bill Clinton let them know that the US knew about that? Or maybe they just wanted the respect of an ex-President coming to their doorstep?

Who knows, but aside from Afghanistan, which is a horror show, Obama's foreign policy is really starting to pay off.

More Screaming From The Korean Peninsula

North Korea draws out the sabers over their neighbors to the south joining the Proliferation Security Initiative.

North Korea threatened Wednesday to launch military strikes against South Korea if any of its ships were stopped or searched as part of an American-led operation to intercept vessels suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

South Korea agreed to join the global interdiction program after North Korea tested a nuclear device on Monday — its second nuclear test in three years. The North had earlier warned the South not to participate in the effort, known as the Proliferation Security Initiative.

“We consider this a declaration of war against us,” an unidentified North Korean military spokesman said Wednesday in a statement carried by the North’s official news agency, KCNA. “Any hostile act against our peaceful vessels, including search and seizure, will be considered an unpardonable infringement on our sovereignty and we will immediately respond with a powerful military strike.”

The North Koreans also said in the statement that they “no longer feel bound by the armistice” that ended the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. Technically, the two Koreas have remained at war for more than 50 years, because the 1953 armistice never gave way to a final peace treaty. North Korea has previously called the armistice a “useless piece of paper.”

I guess this newfound bluster is a combination of testing a young President and jockeying for power inside North Korea in the event of the death of Dear Leader. Regardless, their threat is ridiculous. The Proliferation Security Initiative, maybe the only half-decent thing John Bolton ever came up with, allows South Korea, in this case, to search ships in their own territorial waters suspected of carrying WMD. North Korea may try to provoke a skirmish at the DMZ, but their true threat is from selling weapons technology to other nations. I believe in a strong nonproliferation effort, no matter how much North Korea screams.

More interesting than North Korea's idle threats is the evolution of China on the matter. Not only have they signed on to the strong statement condemning the nuclear test, but Kevin Drum finds this:

North Korea's latest nuclear test raises the question of just how long the bonds forged between old communist allies will endure....Increasingly, China itself is questioning whether the relationship is worth the effort.

Within the Chinese intelligentsia there is a deep divide over how to handle North Korea. The Global Times, a newspaper with close party ties, Tuesday published a survey of 20 of the country's top foreign policy experts. It found them split down the middle — 10 arguing for tough sanctions against North Korea, 10 opposed.

If China throws down the hammer, North Korea will truly be isolated, far more than they are today. International solidarity is more important than the belligerence of empty threats.

I Thought Seppuku Was Japanese

Wow, crazy:

Former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, a suspect in a corruption scandal that implicated his wife and family, apparently committed suicide Saturday by leaping from a mountain cliff near his rural home.

Roh, 62, died of head injuries while hiking in the early morning with a bodyguard. "He appears to have jumped from a mountain rock," said Moon Jae-in, a lawyer who was Roh's presidential chief of staff.

"The suffering caused by me is too great to too many people," Roh wrote in a suicide note found soon after his death. "The suffering in store for the future is too much to bear. The remainder of my life will only be a burden to others."

The joke headline aside, I don't think it's stereotyping to say that certain Asian cultures do place a higher importance on shame than we do in the West. Sure, we've seen public figures in America kill themselves during investigations into their dealings (see Budd Dwyer), but my sense is that this idea of dishonoring oneself and one's family is more developed in a country like Japan or Korea. Not enough to keep one from the dishonor of corruption in the first place, however.

International Incident Watch

In today's edition, Bush gets really mad at the South Korean President when his words aren't translated correctly.

As Bush began to wind down his stay at the Asia-Pacific summit, (South Korean President Moo-hyun) Roh challenged him to make a declaration to end the Korean War. That conflict ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, so the two sides technically remain at war [...]

Bush said that during his talks with Roh, he reaffirmed the U.S. position that Washington will consider the war formally over only when North Korean leader Kim Jong Il actually dismantles his nuclear program.

Whatever Roh heard Bush say through his translator, it wasn't good enough.

"I think I did not hear President Bush mention the — a declaration to end the Korean War just now," Roh said as cameras clicked and television cameras rolled.

Bush said he thought he was being clear, but obliged Roh and restated the U.S. position.

That wasn't good enough either. "If you could be a little bit clearer in your message," Roh said.

Bush, now looking irritated, replied: "I can't make it any more clear, Mr. President. We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will end — will happen when Kim verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons."

The White House immediately downplayed the testy exchange and said the meeting went smoothly.

"There was clearly something lost in translation," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a rushed e-mail to reporters.

So according to the White House, it was just a misunderstanding with the translator, but Bush flipped out because He wasn't being understood when He spoke the Word. See, anyone who doesn't hear the precise nuance of his rhetoric is just a buffoon who deserves to be yelled at. Notice the arrogance here. "How dare he doesn't understand ME! ME!!! I know my phraseology makes perfect sense in Korean!"

George Bush: proudly fighting the war on translators.

Iraq 4-Evah

Well, at least they're being honest:

President Bush envisions a long-term U.S. troop presence in Iraq similar to the one in South Korea where American forces have helped keep an uneasy peace for more than 50 years, the White House said Wednesday.

The comparison was offered as the Pentagon announced the completion of the troop buildup ordered by Bush in January. The last of about 21,500 combat troops to arrive were an Army brigade in Baghdad and a Marine unit heading into the Anbar province in western Iraq [...]

Presidential spokesman Tony Snow said Bush has cited the long-term Korea analogy in looking at the U.S. role in Iraq, where American forces are in the fifth year of an unpopular war. Bush's goal is for Iraqi forces to take over the chief security responsibilities, relieving U.S. forces of frontline combat duty, Snow said.

"I think the point he's trying to make is that the situation in Iraq, and indeed, the larger war on terror, are things that are going to take a long time," Snow said. "But it is not always going to require an up-front combat presence."

Instead, he said, U.S. troops would provide "the so-called over-the-horizon support that is necessary from time to time to come to the assistance of the Iraqis. But you do not want the United States forever in the front."

South Korea is a terrible model for what we face in Iraq. First of all, it wasn't a democracy for most of the time - Syngman Rhee was a dictator who ruled the South for decades - so unless there's an admission here that Iraq needs a strongman, it's a strange analogy. Second of all, the Korean War was conventional warfare with an actual front (the DMZ), not a series of sectarian battles with different ethnic groups and competing interests.

But it's a great model if the goal is to set up a permanent presence in the Middle East to control the flow of the world's oil supply. Which is clearly what this delusional maniac wants to do:

[B]y all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness.

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!" He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny."

The entire neocon projects hinges on staying in Iraq forever. The permanent bases had to leave Saudi Arabia, so they had to be relocated to Iraq. The more disruptive our presence is, the more pulling out would trigger a catastrophe, the better these guys feel. And most of the Democratic candidates appear to have bought this, even while sounding antiwar. We are likely to have some kind of troop presence in Iraq for the rest of all of our lifetimes unless some brave politician decides differently.