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JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

S Korea army on alert after North's military threat

World Jan. 19, 2009 - 01:45AM JST ( 6 )

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smithinjapanJan. 19, 2009 - 08:36PM JST

"Ties warmed significantly following the first-ever summit of their leaders in 2000, but the reconciliation process came to a halt after Seoul’s conservative, pro-U.S. leader Lee came to power last year."

They soured significantly, as did ties between NK and Japan, when that lout GWB took office and declared NK part of some made up Axis-of-Evil. Look where all that bull-cr$p talk landed things!

Anyway, as I've said in the past, the most dangerous thing you can do is push NK into a corner, and isolation is doing that. If NK goes out because of isolation, it'll be with a bang, guaranteed. Better to just keep giving them carrots and indeed slowly coaxing them into giving things up naturally. May take a long while, but that'll depend on Kim's successor.

At any rate, it'll be interesting to see Obama's take on NK, and what he does. I have a feeling he won't actually be too much different from GWB in terms of promising NK aid, though I doubt he'll support Japan on bilateral issues like the abduction issue (at least, not as much as bush). Moreover, I think the main reason Obama would take a hard line on NK is because he's going to be way too caught up in dealing with the national debt/economy, and when it comes to foreign affairs the ME is going to take priority. Kim and NK are just going to have to wait, and that'll seem tough to them. In terms of actual dialogue, hopefully he'll warm things up a bit and lose some of the bombast.

All in all, though, it's still a pretty scary situation. I don't think NK would be dumb enough to do anything serious, but you never know since Kim could be on his death-bed.
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zurcroniumJan. 19, 2009 - 08:43PM JST

Another failure gift in foreign policy from bush that just keeps on giving. And with that knucklehead Lee in there now, the bush of korea, who knows what will happen.
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rajakumarJan. 20, 2009 - 05:38AM JST

North korea yawn news and if want to yawn some more, go to kcna.co.jp.
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WolfpackJan. 20, 2009 - 07:13AM JST

I wonder who will get the first face-to-face meeting with Obama - Kim, Ahmadinejad, Chavez, or bin Laden? Heck, why not invite them all over to the White House at the same time for a grand State dinner, a chorus of kumbaya, and a few lines of blow!
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wuzzademcratJan. 20, 2009 - 02:41PM JST

Don't make Barack get on his magic unicorn and embarrass you.