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Kim Jong-Il’s Coming Out Day? The mystery surrounding his loss of position appeared at first to have been solved when it was reported that Kim had met with a Chinese envoy in mid-February, until Doug Shin noticed that the photographs released to the press appeared to be old. Now comes word that Kim may visit Russia in May.

That would certainly settle the question of whether Kim lives and retains some of his power, but in my mind, it would not answer the question of whether he’s been at least partially sidelined.

Here’s a link to the excellent Kim Jong Il tracker at Yi Sun Shin’s Turtle Boat Cafe. I’ve been meaning to put this on my blogroll for some time. He lists many appearances that I hadn’t noted, and a number of them seem to be at foreign embassies and other venues that would seem to be verifiable.