North and South Korea are back in the chat room!
And this should be no surprise to anyone, because there was never a chance of these two going to war.
But the atmospherics after the North Korean shelling in December made things seem much worse than they were.
Gorilla says: “Now that they’re able, it’s back to the table!”
Hillary Clinton concludes her Asian tour with yet another fruitless call to the international community to do something about North Korea.
The difficulty is that nobody much cares about North Korea. The only two countries that do, South Korea and China, are on opposite sides.
The South Koreans want condemnation of North Korea for the sinking of the Cheonan, the Chinese want the whole mess to go away.
Seoul’s worried about a military invasion, Beijing’s worried about a refugee invasion.
As with Iran, the US seems incapable of cutting a bilateral deal with Pyongyang.
South Korea’s been a reliable partner for decades, but we aren’t about to go to war again to defend it against North Korea.
Everyone in the region knows this, so why not get it over with?
Some combination of recognition/security guarantees in exchange for nuclear disengagement is necessary, and it shouldn’t take another 50 years to make this happen.
Gorilla says: “It’s always bibimbap, never bulgogi!”
If there are Olympics to be had, you will be pardoned!
That’s the story from South Korea, where convicted fraudster and ex-Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee was given a free pass, the better to advance Seoul’s 2018 Winter Olympics bid.
Gorilla is impressed: “I just knew that chaebol would be more than a demonstration sport!!!”
