22 June 2010

The Chinese are blocking U.N. action against their North Korean clients for sinking the Cheonan, and the Russians are playing dumb and stalling, but I’m sure that President Lee takes comfort that he has the full moral backing of the European Parliament and Central America. The Europarl resolution also “expressed disappointment with China and Russia for failing to take a clear position on the issue.”

South Korea will expand its role in the Proliferation Security Initiative:

“We have decided to join the Operational Experts Group (OEG),” an unnamed South Korean foreign ministry official told Yonhap, referring to PSI’s 20-member steering committee. Seoul believes signing up for the OEG in Japan in November will make sharing information on North Korea, a proliferator of illegal weapons, easier, the report said.

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Congress commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. Here’s a statement on that from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (hat tip to her staff).

You already know just how little the World Cup interests me, but I thought this article by Karl Quinn about the possibility of an inter-Korean World Cup match was rather funny, until it ended on a completely tasteless note: “Oh, it would be one to watch, this match-up. But it would probably be best not to watch it from on board a South Korean ship. Just to be safe.” Sorry, Karl, that wasn’t funny at all. Not even a little.

In related news, the World Cup earned North Korea $10 million, which may be some consolation for the thumping its team took from the Portuguese.

Well, well. If it isn’t our old friends from Nodutdol, joining up with the 3/26 twoofers from the PSPD to demand that the U.N. have a more “fair and objective” discussion about the sinking of the Cheonan.

Here’s a cool web page on leaflet drops on North Korea in the ’60’s. I doubt we’d have the sac to try anything like this today.