Irrational Exhuberance

Chung Dong-Yong, disingenuous protestations notwithstanding, thinks that his ineffectual low-level talks with the North Koreans are going to make him the next president of South Korea. I sure hope he doesn’t–I mean does–use that picture of himself in his campaign posters.

Here’s a prediction on those talks, at which nothing of substance appears to be either completed or forthcoming: when the North Koreans have their fertilizer, they’ll find an excuse to call them off again. In fact, this regime has a steady history of re-opening talks in April and May, just long enough to get enough fertilizer for spring planting. When they have what they want, they go home.