Anju Links for 10 Jan 08

SOMETHING MIGHTY SUSPICIOUS IS GOING ON HERE,  and  I’m not just talking about the shadowy movements of spies and emissaries across the DMZ, either:

A top North Korean official paid a secret visit to Seoul on Sept. 26 last year, immediately before the second inter-Korean summit in early October, it was emerged on Thursday. [Chosun Ilbo]

National Intelligence Service Chief Kim Man-bok made a secret visit to Pyongyang on Dec. 18, the day before South Korea’s presidential election, it was emerged on Thursday. [Chosun Ilbo]

POSTCARDS TO THE EDGE?

Japan’s largest confederation of labor unions has launched a campaign to send postcards to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to urge him to return Japanese nationals abducted in the past, union officials said Thursday.  The Japanese Trade Union Confederation, more widely known as Rengo, has printed about 100,000 postcards and has distributed them to member industry and regional unions seeking their cooperation in the sending of the cards. [Kyodo News]

Could this possibly have the desired effect?  That depends on how you define “desired effect.”  Appealing to Kim Jong Il’s conscience has a well-known record of failure, but it’s a solid idea for a P.R. stunt.

SOME POLITICS LINKS —

Charles Krauthammer:  “One does not have to be sympathetic to the Clintons to understand their bewilderment at Obama’s pre-New Hampshire canonization. The man comes from nowhere with a track record as thin as Chauncey Gardiner’s.”

Ramesh Ponnuru:  “A lot of Republicans are raising the drawbridge …. They’re not looking for issues on which conservatives and independents agree or can find common ground.  Call it the closing of the conservative mind.”

WORDS I DID NOT EXPECT TO SAY:  Hooray for Lee Myung Bak. 

Meanwhile, the Transition Committee decided the new government will make it a top priority to find and repatriate South Korean prisoners of war in North Korea.  [Chosun Ilbo]

Much more here.  Let’s hope the days of Korea’s POW’s getting more help from intrepid grandmothers than their own consulates are over forever.  Lee is also going to reconsider Roh Moo Hyun’s plan to slash the South Korean military, which is a prerequisite to the very idea of trying to preserve Korea’s military dependence on U.S. taxpayers.

[Admin note:  Yes, I  combined a previous post into this one for the sake of convenience.]