October 9, 2009

THE BALLOON PEOPLE are back!

OBAMA IS “LEERY” of direct talks with North Korea: “[A] State Department official said Tuesday that the U.S. will not agree to one-on-one talks unless it is given assurances in advance that the outcome will be a deal to resume six-party negotiations.” Well, good for them. No talks will ever disarm North Korea, but always good to show them we mean what we say.

SOUTH KOREA PLACES A CAP on what local Commie-sympathizing fifth-columnists can spend in North Korea.

Under a guideline renewed on Tuesday, South Korean citizens visiting the North to meet family members there cannot spend more than US$1,000. Payments cannot be made through credit or debit cards, either, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said.

It’s offensive that American troops and tax dollars are defending South Korea against a threat that an addlebrained segment of its population is subsidizing. If South Korea can round up 29,500 draft-dodgers, we could solve two problems at once.

WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE NOMINATED SAM BROWNBACK, THEN: “North Korea denounced on Thursday U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent nomination of a special envoy on the North Korean human rights, calling it part of a hostile offensive motivated by politics.”

KREMLINOLOGY UPDATE: “North Korea recently halted media publicity over a future father-to-son power transfer in the country while increasing reports on current leader Kim Jong-il, a senior Seoul official said Thursday.” Not much may become of him, but at least we learned how to spell his name right.

CHUTZPAH MAY BE THE ONE THING that’s never in short supply in North Korea: “North Korea is again demanding the return of 11 citizens who recently sailed to South Korea in what is believed to have been a bid to defect from the communist nation, a Unification Ministry spokesman said Friday.” They’ve already asked for them back three times.