6 May 2010
Another reason not to hike the DMZ these days:
NORTH Korea has completed deployment of about 50,000 special forces along the border with South Korea, a report said on Wednesday, amid high tensions over the sinking of a Seoul warship. The deployment began two or three years ago and seven 7,000-strong divisions are now in place, an unidentified senior government official told Yonhap news agency.
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North Korea’s “unofficial spokesman” Kim Myong Chol has constructed an elaborate theory blaming the U.S. Navy for sinking the Cheonan. It will be interesting to see whether theories of this kind gain any traction in South Korea, but so far, it looks like the vast majority of those who have strong opinions blame North Korea.
Another report on those North Korean suicide squads.
Some work-safe pictures of Kim Jong Il’s pleasure squad dance troupe. What’s striking about the photographs is how obviously staged they are. For the women out there: do you ordinarily travel in brightly colored silk clothing and full make-up? For those of you who’ve traveled in China, are all of the train conductors that hot? (If so, I’d love to have a look at the flight attendants.) Not that I’m usually opposed to a little eye candy, but so soon after the Cheonan incident, and during the Korean families’ traditional mourning period, it’s completely insensitive of China to make such a garish display of its cozy relations with Kim Jong Il.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Michael Auslin argues that in Northeast Asia, it’s now South Korea providing the adult supervision while Japan behaves like an adolescent. How times have changed. There are certainly aspects of Lee Myung Bak’s presidency that I wouldn’t favor if I were a South Korean voter, notably his profligate spending on grandiose projects, but there’s no denying what a difference it makes to have an adult in charge in the Blue House in a time of crisis.
Hey, man. Nice shooting.
The Chinese women immigration agents I’ve seen at Dandong/Sinuiji border are quite attractive. I am not sure how much of a role the uniform plays in that for me.
By and large I think it’s safe to say that service sector hiring in China is based on more than just the resume. Not just stewardesses and conductors either — it seems to extend even to tollbooth operators. One of the stranger manifestations I’ve noticed is that women workers at Chinese KFC are typically a good deal taller than average.
(in immediate hindsight the above comment was a bit misleading, since resumes in China usually include photographs)
Kim Myong Chol is one person for whom I would suspend my opposition to torture and other degrading treatment. I can’t wait until it’s time for his Baghdad Bob moment.
1…Nice shooting …but how can the Secret Service now really expect to protect the President if its safety circle must have a radius of 1.5 miles? Monstrously long targeted shots using 50 cal weapons are now regularly reported from Afghanistan. If we can do it, so can the Pathans, the Waziris, the Kohistanis, the Chechens and the Circassians — and the Sovs made one of the finest sniper rifles ever.
2…7,000 man divisions for Special Forces means that the NorKs have over 30 divisions of them, rather than 15. And a 7,000 man division suggests that it is intended for infiltration, disruption and destruction only, like Spetsnaz units, since it likely lacks the artillery and support forces that increase most divisions to about 15,000 men.
3…This is seriously bad news, but further reinforces the recent view that the DPRK plans to infiltrate and seize Seoul first, before making further moves South.
David:
If anything, a DPRK invasion would hopefully be a wake-up call to the spoiled rotten little brats from the recent generation of the ROK who sympathize with the North, especially if Seoul were seized first.
No Jeremy no. A bloodbath is not a pretty way to change minds. The history of the North’s incursions into the South in the Korean War is one of murder, assassination, callous murder, mass murder, atrocity, depravity and yet more murder. It would only be worse in 2012.
David, you’re right about that and I apologize for my choice of words.
However, there exist a number of young South Korean adults who have known nothing but prosperity and democracy and yet sympathize with people who wouldn’t think twice about shelling their homes and shooting them.
There are some very serious issues raised with this post. However, regarding a not so serious issue… Josh, I think you gotta raise your standards here, bro. With 1.3 billion Chinese out there you better believe there are a lot of hotties–and a lot of them have jobs where they’re making about US 300 a month.., which is definitely enough to buy food and a few skimpy outfits. As far as Nork girls go, these girls are nothing compared to the ones I saw at Pyong Yang Guan in Bangkok. Nam nam buk yuh, yo.