PSY BOMBS:  Good.  South Korea’s America-hating, North Korea-sympathizing fad really needed a poster child to tell the world just how repellent it really was. ———————————————————— KORYO TOURS’ MOST RECENT venture into tasteless exploitation bombs.  Also good.  One day, Treasury really needs to get around to freezing their assets. ———————————————————— THE MOONIES’ NORTH KOREAN INVESTMENT BOMBS:  Also good.  Hat tip and nice Hemingway reference there, Marcus. ———————————————————— KIM JONG IL IS STILL DEAD, also good.  Evan Ramstad posts on the newest...

AMPONTAN (AKA BILL SAKOVICH) HAS DIED. Often, when he hear of the loss of someone, our reaction is, “But I just saw him!” Ampontan’s wonderful Japan blog is actually still posting timed entries posthumously, but Bill gave me one of the final links of his life, and for that, I’m honored, grateful, and saddened for his family, who lost him during a season when they should have been enjoying his company in happier circumstances. RIP, Bill. ————————————————————— SELIG HARRISON, CALL...

IN SOUTH KOREA, THEY’RE COUNTING THE BALLOTS in a neck-and-neck contest between “bad” and “dreadful.” This ill foreboding I feel comes from South Koreans’ tendency to react to North Korean threats with votes for appeasers, and because both candidates are selling one form of appeasement or another, so there’s no way I’ll be embarrassed by this prediction. (A likely plurality of voters in democratic societies have been singing various stanzas of “Make the World Go Away” for most of the...

No single member of Congress of either party, in either chamber, is a more persistent advocate of the human rights of the North Korean people than Representative Ed Royce.  Royce represents California’s 40 District in Orange County, which contains a large Korean-American constituency.  Just as the situation in Cuba seemed to inspire outgoing Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen the most, the situation in North Korea has always seemed to inspire Royce the most. Yesterday, I learned that Royce has been selected to...

VIDEO:  A wooden boat with fading Korean characters painted on it washes up on Japan’s West Coast.  Aboard are the decomposing bodies of five men. ————————————————– WHERE HAS THE U.S.S. PUEBLO GONE? ————————————————– I, FOR ONE, FULLY SUPPORT THEIR DECISION:  North Korea to confiscate property from companies at Kaesong that fail to pay punitive taxes.  Good luck attracting more investment with that strategy! ————————————————– NORTH KOREAN PERESTROIKA WATCH:  According to an unverifiable report attributed to “sources,” North Korea has replaced...