Anju Links for 7/3

Forgive the light blogging of late, the result of competing obligations, a bigger project I hope you’ll see here soon, and frankly, a lack of interesting fodder in the news recently.

*   When I read that South Korea was already preparing to ship fuel oil to North Korea (see also), even before Yongbyong is shut down, I thought that seemed a bit overconfident.  AF 2.0, as explained by Chris Hill to the Congress, specified that the first 50,000-ton delivery comes after the shut-down.  Now Richardson gives us a likely explanation for why that is:  North Korea is now demanding the fuel oil first.  Can we presume that South Korea had already gone behind our backs and agreed, or is it more likely that the State Department was with them in the continuing evolution of AF 2.0?  Just out of sheer morbid curiosity, I wonder what the entire agreement — including the unwritten parts — will look like a year from now.

*   Interesting quote from B.B. Bell:  “North Korea last week ‘conducted testing of advanced short-range missiles — missiles specifically designed to attack the Republic of Korea (South Korea), its armed forces, and its citizens ….'”  [Kyodo]  I wonder how South Korean leftists  explain North Korea’s apparent overabundance of missiles that can’t reach Los Angeles or Tokyo.

*   The Nixon Doctrine Lives:  Here’s the new shape of the alliance, and it’s pretty much what I’ve expected since about 1999:  the steady replacement of our ground forces with air and naval forces.  If Koreans don’t get that we won’t send 690,000 soldiers to serve under Korean command, it’s obvious to us.  The U.S. commitment to Korea is evolving to one based on air and naval power alone.  And that’s good.