Honor, Delayed, Part 2

Kim Jong-Seon, who bitterly denounced Roh Moo Hyun’s appeasement-driven snubbing of memorial services for her husband and five other sailors killed in a 2002 naval battle with North Korean warships, has announced that she will return to South Korea.

Now she has changed her mind, motivated by reports that president-elect Lee Myung-bak’s Transition Team and the Defense Ministry decided to upgrade the memorial service for the victims of the West Sea Battle to a state event. The ceremony has so far been hosted by the Navy’s Second Fleet. Kim is also drawn back by her mother’s ill health. She says she wants to work for the re-evaluation of the West Sea Battle and restoration of honor for the victims once she returns. [Chosun Ilbo]

The Chosun also raises the fact that for the last three years, Kim was living in the United States illegally, working in a beauty salon.