17 February 2010

Two must-read articles in Foreign Policy by my friend Professor Sung Yoon Lee, on the topics of Kim Jong Il’s mortality and how to manage North Korea’s reconstruction. I don’t agree with all of the ideas, but they’re well worth reading. I wish I had time to analyze them in more depth, but I haven’t had time to so much as skim them myself yet.

Been meaning to link this one for a few days — Kushibo notes that President Lee is starting to show some spine on getting back South Korean abductees and POW’s from the North. In short, Lee is acting like what DJ and Roh weren’t — statesmanlike leaders who protect their country’s citizens.

A former North Korean agent claims to have met Megumi Yokota in North Korea.

Open News’s post-mortem on The Great Confiscation.

Electricity shortages are delaying train service.

A report and Open News’s analysis on the state forcing trading companies to merge. It seems to be a more incremental approach to the war against capitalism, but given previous reports that influential figures control or profit from these trading companies, there could be unintended consequences.