Open Sources, May 21, 2012

SOMEDAY, I’D LOVE TO KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED HERE:

Many of the details remained murky. The Beijing News said the boats were intercepted on May 8 in waters between China and North Korea. The report quoted one of the ships’ owners, Zhang Dechang, as saying that he had spoken by phone to a kidnapped sailor and that the captors were demanding about $189,000. Later reports said that had been reduced to about $142,000.

Another newspaper, The Global Times, quoted Mr. Zhang as saying that the attackers had brandished weapons and that the Chinese sailors had not resisted. “The captured fishermen have been locked in a small house, with no food to eat,” he said.

G-8 LEADERS ON NORTH KOREA: Yes, it’s the usual stuff you’d expect — condemning rocket launches, opposing nuke tests — but there’s a little more.

“We continue to have deep concerns about provocative actions of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) that threaten regional stability,” they said in a statement on the results of a two-day summit at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. The North’s formal name was used in the diplomatic document titled “Camp David Declaration.”

U.S. President Barack Obama hosted the annual meeting with his counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and Britain designed to address major global economic and political challenges. [….]

“We affirm our will to call on the UN Security Council to take action, in response to additional DPRK acts, including ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests,” the leaders said.

They also expressed concern about human rights violations in the North including political prisoner camps and handling of South Korean and Japanese people abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.

The issue of the camps has become too big to ignore anymore.

OIL EXPLORATION COMPANY PULLS OUT of North Korean investment:

Independent British energy company Aminex PLC has withdrawn from North Korea, citing ‘”the volatile and unpredictable politics of the area”, just two years after signing a deal covering a 50,000 sq km area off the country’s east coast.

Aminex said it was “in the best interests of shareholders for the Company to withdraw from the Korean exploration programme and not participate in seismic acquisition. This decision will allow Aminex to focus on growing its African portfolio.”

But there’s one born every minute.

God, how I didn’t want to believe this was true.