Anju Links for 14 Jan 08

STOP THE PRESSES!   Donga Ilbo:  Lee Says He’s Exceptionally Pro-Business

LEAST UNEXPECTED HEADLINE OF THE DAY:   Joongang Ilbo:  “Lee Praises Anticipated U.S. Envoy.”   On second thought, unexpected and dull is just fine, thank you.   As for me, I have low expectations for the  ambassador-designate, Kathleen Stephens, for the simple (maybe too simple) reason that nothing good  or decent comes from the State Department’s East Asia Bureau.  But there is some hope that she won’t be entirely awful:   

Stephens speaks fluent Korean and enjoys Korean food. Though regarded as a pro-Seoul diplomat, she had several rounds of arguments with the Foreign Ministry over North Korean issues and the question of establishing a peace framework on the Korean Peninsula after the Roh Moo-hyun administration was inaugurated.  [Chosun Ilbo]  

Stephens’s language skills will be a big plus, but  language skills are only as useful as one’s ability to process that  whole new level of information.

REVOLUTION WATCH, China Edition:  The Washington Post  covers a rash of  uprisings by Chinese farmers in at least five different regions of China, from North to South.  The farmers are demanding the right to own the land they work as private property, and the movement has spread over the Internet in spite of tight state controls on it.  Related news here,  here, and  here here from Radio Free Asia.