"N. Korea’s move on projects viewed as bid to build good will; Regime will allow tours, reunions" by Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press | August 18, 2009
SEOUL - North Korea’s decision to restart tours run jointly with South Korea and allow reunions of families separated for decades by the peninsula’s war.... is the latest in a series of good-will gestures from Pyongyang to Seoul and Washington after months of provocations....
North Korea’s centrally controlled economy has been in shambles over the past two decades. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s deprived the country of a key source of trade and aid. Subsequent mismanagement and natural disasters have also hurt the economy. An estimated 2 million people in the North died of hunger in the mid-1990s.
A HOLOCAUST you NEVER HEAR much about -- as opposed to certain others!
Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea specialist at Korea University, said the ailing Kim needs to solve the North’s deep economic malaise before handing power to one of his sons. “The issue of feeding people should first be resolved to stabilize the succession.’’
Oh, I SO AGREE! Want to WIN PEOPLE OVER?! Give them a meal!
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So how can the U.S. f*** this up?
SEOUL - South Korea prepared yesterday to launch its first rocket, just four months after rival North Korea defiantly launched its own and quickly was slapped with United Nations sanctions.
The North has warned it would closely watch the international response to South Korea’s launch today. In April, the North said it shot a satellite into orbit and was angered when the United States, Japan, and South Korea called the launch a disguised test of ballistic missile technology declared off-limits to the regime by the UN.
Related: North Korea Telling the Truth About Missile Launch
Whom do you believe?
South Korean officials have said their rocket launch, carrying an observation satellite, is peaceful, and they hope it will boost the country’s goal of becoming a regional space power....
The DOUBLE STANDARDS are REALLY QUITE SHOCKING, aren't they?
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Looks the South Koreans smartened up and disobeyed their American masters, no?
"Also yesterday, a technical glitch forced South Korea to abort liftoff of its first rocket into space, delaying a launch that threatened to stoke tensions with North Korea, which also has an advanced missile system."
And PEACE ADVANCES AGAIN:
"In a separate meeting yesterday with South Korean politicians and scholars, Kim Yang Gon, the North’s intelligence chief, suggested more economic ties between the two Koreas, voicing hopes of shipping some of the North’s rich minerals to the South, Yonhap reported, quoting people who attended the meeting."
Your move, U.S.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: China Keeps the Peace in Korea
My position, readers?
ANYTHING that will ALLEVIATE the SUFFERING of the North Koreans and CONFER the RESPECT upon them that they DESERVE!!!
See: Korea: Meals or Missiles?
Then we can REALLY TALK PEACE!!!
Of course, I expect NOTHING of the SORT from my double-talking, double-crossing, double-dealing government at all.