MEETING WITH HU JINTAO IN BEIJING, “[South Korean President] Lee [Myung Bak] requested Hu’s cooperation to ensure ‘North Korean defectors won’t be forcefully sent back to the North against their will,’ Lee’s spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters.” [IHT] WORTHY OF ITS NAME: South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission is calling on the Unification Ministry to come up with some answers about those 22 North Korean boat people who arrived in South Korea earlier this year, only to be returned to...

NEXT SURRENDER, VERIFICATION?  Sung Kim has been in talks with the North Koreans in New York to break the latest impasse, which could only mean one thing.  I hope he brought enough lubricant. HERE’S AUDIO OF ADRIAN HONG on the Hugh Hewitt Show. THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM HAS ASKED South Korea to provide $60 million in emergency food aid.  No word on when the U.N. will tender a similar request to the Ryugyong Hotel Building Fund. IN 1997, NORTH KOREAN...

OLD FAITHFUL ERUPTS, RIGHT ON SCHEDULE:   Remember that tantrum I predicted? ”The DPRK submitted an accurate and complete nuclear declaration,” the [KCNA] commentary said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.    ”The U.S., however, has not honored its commitment to write the DPRK off the list of ‘state sponsors of terrorism,’ a key political compensation in concluding the implementation of the agreement,” it said.    ”This is obviously a violation of the...

THAT’S  STILL LEAVES 40% DARWIN CAN’T EXPLAIN:  The number of tourists to North Korea plunged more than 60 percent last month following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist at Mt. Kumgang resort.  [Chosun Ilbo] So if you want to attract tourists, it’s probably a good idea not to shoot them.  Got it.  The same report, sourced to Arirang News, says that inter-Korean trade fell by 1.5% since last year, and that non-commercial transactions, which includes aid, fell by...