안주 Links for 25 February 2009

WHOOP DE DOO: Another one of those private delegations of North Korea “experts” is headed for Pyongyang. I’ll go out on a long limb here: in a few days they’ll return none the wiser to deliver more North Korean extortion demands to credulous American reporters.

AND HOW IS THIS NOT A PROVOCATION?

According to the Defense Ministry, North Korean artillery batteries deployed in Haeju and on the Ongjin Peninsula fired dozens of shells into the West Sea in the morning and afternoon. Some residents on Yeonpyeong Island reported hearing the report of guns several times between 9 to 10 a.m. [Chosun Ilbo]

All of which sent the ROK military into a state of high alert. But don’t take this as a provocation, says the South Korean Defense Ministry.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO FINDS IRONY in North Korea projecting how America’s economic crisis is causing it to direct its belligerence to the outside world?

Rodong Sinmun Tuesday in a signed article cites facts to prove how hard the U.S. imperialists are working to ignite another Korean war. This reveals their desperate intention to get rid of their serious economic crisis, the article notes, and goes on:

Imperialist states pursue the policy of aggression and war against other countries to meet the interests of monopolistic businesses and their demands for expansion. [KCNA]

If the North Koreans have identified a real cause-and-effect relationship here — and I think they speak from first-hand experience — then no country whose cities look like this from outer space is safe with nukes or ICBM’s. Also, I wish to register my profound disappointment that we are not yet loved by the rest of the world.

AND IN AN EPIC TRIUMPH OF SERVICE OF PROCESS, a North Korean has filed a lawsuit in a South Korean court. No, he’s not a defector. He still lives in North Korea.