24 March 2009

THE DAILY NK ALREADY HAS some details about the whereabouts of the American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee:

The information source also released that, “The emergency, that they had arrested American citizens, was immediately reported to the DSC, which supervises the border guard units. It was also reported to the headquarters of the 9th corps, which has jurisdiction over North Hamkyung Province. The two were sent to Pyongyang in the morning of the 18th after investigation by the special agents of the DSC. They were taken in separate cars, so as not to have contact with each other, escorted by armed vehicles.

I haven’t heard one U.S. government official demand their immediate release.

THE BUBBLE HAS POPPED: North Korea’s interfence with access to Kaesong has cost investors there $10 million. Good.

FOOD PRICES in North Korea stabilize, for now.

DID KIM JONG CHOL really go to school in Switzerland?

PREDATOR STRIKES ARE TAKING A HEAVY TOLL on al Qaeda. I’m not seeing the downside of that, and it may impede AQ’s effectiveness, but it won’t wrest the frontier regions from AQ control. That will only happen when the inhabitants have sufficient inspiration and weaponry to drive AQ out on their own.