30 March 2010: The Cryogenic Pundit

Writing in the Asia Times, Andray Abrahamian, a doctoral candidate at a small South Korean university, finally gets around to publishing — apparently unedited — the term paper that’s been on his hard drive for the last three years:

At present, goods from Kaesong are excluded [from the U.S.-Korea FTA] but could be used as enticement for North Korean reform. The requirements for Kaesong-produced goods to be included in the FTA are deliberately vague: they are dependent on US interpretations of North Korean behavior. Specifically, the text cites progress in the denuclearization of the peninsula, relations between the two Koreas and working conditions in the industrial complex.

Because my feed reader is prone to moments of undeclared nostalgia, I actually had to go back and re-check the date on this to reassure myself that it wasn’t actually written in 2007, when people with working internet connections were actually writing things like this. Now, let’s all plug in our hair dryers, thaw Mr. Abrahamian out from his cryogenic deep-freeze, and download him some updates on North Korea’s idea of economic reform, its behavior since President Obama’s inauguration, and the state of the FTA (also, Michael Jackson died and — sit down for this — Ricky Martin is gay). But then, when is the last time anyone other than Don Kirk wrote anything worth reading for the Asia Times?

Here is today’s Daily Affirmation from KCNA. Share it with someone you love:

The conservative media organizations and hack writers are bound to face a stern punishment by the nation as they are hell-bent on malignantly defiling the dignity and system in the DPRK and releasing false reports about it as trumpeters serving the above-said group.

The reptile conservative media would be well advised to bear in mind that they will have to pay dearly for falsifying the reality and stoking confrontation quite contrary to the mindset of the people. [KCNA]

Whose idea was it to turn the list of state sponsors of terrorism over to the archdiocese of Dublin?

Hey, thanks, Ethan.

Japan will extend sanctions against North Korea.