Jimmy Carter Heads to North Korea

Nine years after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to get the North Koreans to dismantle their nuclear program, Jimmy Carter returns for another stab at it.

Ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter and three other former leaders arrived in Beijing on Sunday en route to North Korea to discuss the revival of nuclear disarmament talks.

Carter and the group of veteran statesmen known as the Elders are to travel to Pyongyang on Tuesday as part of international efforts to restart the negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear program.

The group, which includes former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland and former Irish President Mary Robinson, said it also plans to discuss North Korea's chronic food shortages.

International disarmament talks with North Korea have been stalled for the past two years amid growing concerns over its nuclear programs.

"At a time when official dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea appears to be at a standstill, we aim to see how we may be of assistance in reducing tensions and help the parties address key issues including denuclearization," Carter was quoted as saying in a statement.

The Norks have a fondness for the useful idiot.

Carter, a Democrat from Georgia who was president from 1977 to 1981, is well regarded in North Korea despite its longtime animosity with the U.S.

'It's a Time for North Koreans to Relax with Friends and Family'

They have so much to be thankful for.

The flags are up and the streets of North Korea's capital are lined with flowers as the nation prepares to celebrate the biggest holiday of the year: the birthday of late President Kim Il Sung.

April 15 is called "The Day of the Sun" in honour of the man who founded North Korea in 1948 and maintains godlike status in the country now led by his son, Kim Jong Il.

It's a time for North Koreans to relax with friends and family. But it's also an occasion to rally national pride as the country undergoes a sensitive leadership transition and as tensions with the outside world persist.

Those tensions today include the planned indictment of a U.S. citizen.

North Korea announced more details of an American whose detention was revealed earlier this week by U.S. and Swedish diplomats, saying it has held the man since November and will soon indict him.

But North Korea didn't say Thursday what the man, whom it identified as Jun Young Su, had done wrong or give any other details.

The announcement, made by North Korea's state-run news agency, said Mr. Jun "admitted his crime in the course of the investigation."

The man is the fifth American citizen to be detained and arrested by North Korea in the past two years.

Good thing we've got smart diplomacy at work.

Czechs Tell Norks To Get Serious

Don't be surprised if this decision ends up being smeared with either the 'racists' or 'bigots' label by the angry, intolerant, piss-ignorant Left.

North Korean ginseng offer refused
Ginseng is said to have libidinous and energizing qualities.

But the herbal root from the Orient did not have the same effect on trade negotiations between Czech and North Korean authorities.

At issue was a 186 million Kc [US$9,574,650 ed.] debt outstanding from a late 1980s deal for Czechoslovak trucks, trams and heavy machinery.

"We can confirm that a negotiation regarding the North Korean debt was held in July," Radek Ležatka, a spokesman for the Finance Ministry, told The Prague Post. "Representatives of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea came with an official proposal to forgive 95 percent of the debt."

Ležatka said the ministry found this proposal "unacceptable."

Ministry officials then suggested that the cash-strapped North Koreans pay the debt in goods rather than hard currency. Less formal talks followed, and North Korean officials apparently suggested making part of their debt payment in ginseng - a plant that grows naturally in cooler Asian climates and is now a common ingredient in energy drinks or an additive in green tea.

North Korea's military controls much of the country's exports. Ginseng sales are controlled by a highly secretive branch of the Army known as "Bureau 39," according to The Financial Times. The North Korean Foreign Affairs Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Ležatka said the offer came during informal discussions and that "the Finance Ministry will wait for the official proposal of the North Korean authorities."

Czech negotiators were reportedly considering other commodities as part of any deal, including zinc ore. The Finance Ministry would then plan on selling the zinc to recoup the North Korean debt.

The debt dates from the rule of Kim Il Sung, the communist dictator who ran North Korea from 1948 through his death in 1994. He was succeeded by his eccentric son Kim Jong Il, who is known for enjoying among other things fine liquors and James Bond films despite the grinding poverty that has engulfed his country. He has driven the country into increasing international isolation, due largely to continued work on a nuclear weapons program.

Kim's health has become the subject of much speculation since late 2008, when he reportedly suffered a stroke. In public appearances since, he has appeared frail, and in July 2009, The New York Times reported he is suffering from pancreatic cancer. Earlier this year, the United Kingdom's Telegraph cited a South Korean intelligence official in reporting that Kim had $4 billion stowed in numbered bank accounts in Luxembourg.

Pyongyang owes an estimated $12 billion to the world in unpaid debts, two-thirds of that to former communist states like the Czech Republic. International sanctions have tightened further in recent years, depriving the North Korean regime of its key source of hard currency: arms sales.

"We have finished the official negotiations on this position, and informal discussions about different possibilities have followed," Ležatka said.

It is not known what other commodities Kim - who before a previous round of sanctions in 2007, formerly imported an estimated $800,000 worth of Hennessy cognac each year, according to the brand's manufacturer - and his government are considering to offer for paying off the debt.

"Negotiations will continue," Ležatka said.

Members of the UN Human Rights Commission were unavailable for comment.

Via The Prague Post

Young Teen Tries To Provoke Another DMZ Axe Murder

This young man's parents ought to teach him a little bit of the history of the DMZ before they embark on some sort of touchy feely campaign to North Korea. The kid wanted to ask El Supremo Leader Kim Jong Il to plant a bunch of trees in the DMZ. That was done once with disastrous consequences.

On August 18, 1976, a group of five Korean Service Corps (KSC) personnel escorted by a UNC security team consisting of the Joint Security Force (JSF) Company Commander (Captain Arthur Bonifas), his South Korean (ROK) Army counterpart, Captain Kim, the platoon leader of the current platoon in the area (1st Lt. Mark Barrett), and 11 enlisted personnel, both American and South Korean,[2] went into the JSA to trim the tree as previously scheduled with the KPA delegation. The two captains did not wear sidearms, as members of the Joint Security Area were limited to only five armed officers and 30 armed enlisted personnel at a time. However, there were mattocks in the back of the 2½ ton truck. The KSC workers had the axes they brought to prune the tree branches. The tree had been scheduled to be trimmed seven days earlier, but rain had forced the work to be rescheduled.

After trimming began, 15 to 16 KPA soldiers appeared, commanded by Senior Lt. Pak Chul, whom the UNC soldiers had previously nicknamed "Lt. Bulldog" due to a history of confrontations.[3][4] Pak and his subordinates appeared to observe the trimming without concern for approximately 15 minutes, until he abruptly told the UNC to cease the activity stating the tree could not be trimmed "because Kim Il Sung personally planted it and nourished it and it’s growing under his supervision."[5] Capt. Bonifas ordered the detail to continue, and turned his back on Lt. Pak Chul.[6]
After being ignored by Capt. Bonifas, Pak sent a runner across the Bridge of No Return. Within minutes a North Korean guard truck crossed the bridge and approximately 20 more North Korean guards disembarked carrying crowbars and clubs. Pak again demanded that the tree trimming stop, and when Capt. Bonifas again turned his back on him, Pak removed his watch, carefully wrapped it in a handkerchief, placed it in his pocket, and then shouted "Kill them!" as he swung a karate chop to the back of Capt. Bonifas' neck.[6][7] Using axes dropped by the tree-trimmers, the KPA forces attacked the two U.S. soldiers, Capt. Bonifas and Lt. Barrett, and wounded all but one of the UNC guards.[3][8]

While Capt. Bonifas died instantly, Lt. Barrett jumped a low wall which led into a 15 ft. (4½ m) deep tree-filled depression. The depression was not visible from the road. The entire fight lasted for only about 20–30 seconds before the UNC Force managed to disperse the KPA guards and place Capt. Bonifas' body in their truck.[7] However, there was no sign of Lt. Barrett and the two UNC guards at OP#5 could not see them.

They did, however, observe the KPA guards grab (by the heels) approximately five members of their own force and drag them back across the bridge. They also observed the KPA guards at KPA#8 (along the UNC emergency egress road) exhibiting strange behavior, in that one guard would take an axe and go down into the depression for a couple of minutes and then come back up and hand the axe to another guard who would repeat the process. This went on for approximately 90 minutes until the UNC guards at OP#5 were informed that Lt. Barrett was missing, at which time they informed their superiors about the KPA activity in the depression. A search and rescue squad was quickly dispatched and found Lt. Barrett had been attacked with the axe by the North Koreans.[9]

The American base in the DMZ, now wholly owned and operated by the South Koreans was named Camp Bonifas in honor of the Cpt who was killed.

So kiddo, trees ain't a good idea and next time do a little research.


via Mediaite The author asks if his cynicism is warranted and I would have to say yes it is.

Confirmed: North Korea Torpedoed South Korean Ship

The South Koreans have released a report on the recent sinking of one of their ships, based in part on intelligence provided by the United States, which asserts that it was a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine that sunk their ship.

South Korea's military believes a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank its navy ship last month, based on intelligence gathered jointly with the United States, a news report said on Thursday.

The Yonhap news report appears to be the clearest sign yet that Seoul blames Pyongyang for what would be one of the deadliest incidents between the rivals since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. It puts more political pressure on President Lee Myung-bak, but analysts do not see it triggering a war.

The military's intelligence arm sent the report of "certain" North Korean involvement to the presidential Blue House soon after the incident, Yonhap quoted a high-ranking military source as saying.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula stay in normal state of unease, and this certainly is not going to help. The constant sabre rattling and threatening posture of the North Koreans is something the people living in the south have learned to accept over time, but this is going to put intense pressure on the South Korean president.

The other part though is to keep an eye and an ear out for what the United States reaction to this provocation is. Given all of the smart diplomacy we have seen from this administration I expect to see Hillary in Pyongyang apologizing to the 'Supreme Leader' for the obvious lack of navigation skills of the South Korean sailors and probably offering to trade a few pounds of enriched uranium for promises that they will not carry out any further attacks.

For those of you who received your entire education in government schools it is important to let you know that the Korean War was never officially ended. There was a ceasefire resolution signed, but the North has always maintained that they will resume hostilities anytime they wish. Every time one of these incidents happen the tension becomes palpable in Korea. I was there when Kim Il-Sung, father of the current leader, died. Our forces immediately went on alert and deployed, realizing we would be nothing more then a speed bump should the North decide to vacation in Seoul. After about 24 hours Clinton ordered us to stand down, which shook all of us by surprise. We left our dispersed battle positions and returned to our barracks. The reasoning was they didn't want us to appear to be provoking the North, which was funny--not in a funny way when your ass is on the line--in that the North was massing everything they had on the border. Returning us to our bases drew up images of Pearl Harbor. Nobody got a good night's sleep for a couple of weeks, but fortunately the situation calmed down. For you Clintonistas who think us standing down was what eased the tension, think again. There was an intense power struggle taking place in North Korea between the new dictator and the military which kept them poised but unable to move.

The conventional wisdom in the wake of this most recent incident and the revelation of the North's involvement will not result in much of a response from the south, but I bet you can be assured 'The Dear Leader' of the North will have plenty to say and all of it will be blaming the United States working in cahoots with the South Koreans to fabricate the whole thing.

You know, like AhmaDinnerJacket does with Israel and the United States.

Dear Leader Sets World Fashion Trend

Admit it, you figured this was another puff piece about Obama, didn't you? Well, I'm sure one of his bootlickers at MSNBC will dispute this, but there truly is only one Dear Leader and we all bow to his sartorial splendor. This cat doesn't do mom jeans, people.

The trademark suit sported by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is now in fashion worldwide thanks to his greatness, Pyongyang's official website said Wednesday.

Uriminzokkiri, quoting an article in communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, said the modest-looking suits have gripped people's imagination and become a global vogue.

"The reason is that the august image of the Great General, who is always wearing the modest suit while working, leaves a deep impression on people's mind in the world," it said.

"To sum it up, that is because his image as a great man is so outstanding."

The article quoted an unidentified French fashion expert as saying world fashion follows Kim Jong-Il's style.

"Kim Jong-Il mode which is now spreading expeditiously worldwide is something unprecedented in the world's history," the stylist was quoted as saying.

The suits consist of an overall-style zipped-up tunic and matching trousers, usually in khaki or blueish-grey.

The 68-year-old leader wears them even when receiving foreign dignitaries.

During his outside "field guidance" trips in winter, he also dons a shapeless anorak and fur hat.

In other Nork news, the global fashion icon has sentenced an American teacher to eight years hard labor. Expect our Secretary of State, a global leader in pantsuit fashion, to go groveling shortly.

North Korea has sentenced an American teacher to eight years of hard labor and ordered him to pay a $700,000 fine after he crossed illegally into the country - the fourth U.S. citizen to be detained by the islolated regime since last year.

Aijalon Mahli Gomes, of Boston, acknowledged his wrongdoing during a trial at the Central Court Tuesday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch on Wednesday.

The North said last month that it arrested Gomes, 30, on Jan. 25 for trespassing after he crossed into the country from China.

Gomes, a graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine, had been teaching English in South Korea and no details have emerged about why he went to the North. However, Jo Sung-rae, a Seoul-based activist, said Gomes may have been inspired by his acquaintance with an American missionary who made a similar trip to the North in December to protest the country's human rights record.

'Dear Leader' Not Showing The Love

I wonder what the penalty for crashing a party is?

A NUMBER of North Koreans have been arrested and could face execution for leaking information on the movements of leader Kim Jong-Il to South Korean news media, reports and sources say.
Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, quoting sources in the communist state, said today "many North Korean residents'' in the northeastern city of Hoeryong have been charged with espionage.

It said they were accused of leaking information on Kim's February 24 "field guidance'' trip to the city to a South Korean internet newspaper and may face execution.

Apparently "Dear Leader" doesn't like folks to know where he is. If he is so loved by all of his people why is this such a concern? I think the real culprit is revealed a little later in the article.

"A different group of North Korean residents who had worked for another Seoul-based civilian organisation were caught using unauthorised mobiles in Hoeryong,'' Shin Ju-Hyun, a Daily NK journalist, said.

If there is one thing Kim Done Gone Batty won't allow, it is contact with the outside world. To the average North Korean they think the rest of the world lives exactly the same as they do.

'She Was Cute With a Baby Face'

Apparently Kim Jong-il wasn't always so ronery. The pot-bellied psychopath looked to be quite the radies' man back in the day.

A LONELY grave in Moscow marks the resting place of the film star who was the first love of the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-il, and the mother of his eldest son.

She lies a few yards from the graves of Josef Stalin’s son Vassily and his wife, in the Troekurovskoe cemetery on the outskirts of the Russian capital. A plain black headstone inscribed with her name – Song Hye-rim – and her dates of birth and death adorns a slab decorated in oriental style.

In the twilight of Kim’s rule, the discovery has highlighted the plots and betrayals that govern the fortunes of his dynasty. According to the highest-ranking defector from North Korea, after hearing of gossip among the elite, Kim later ordered the execution of all the North Koreans who had been students in Moscow and knew of her presence.

After years of mental illness, Song died in exile seven years ago. She gave birth to Kim’s eldest son, Jong-nam, but lived to see him fall from grace.

The dictator’s third son, by another woman, Koh Yong-hee, who is also dead, is expected to inherit his mantle as “great leader”. That son, Jong-un, is thought to be backed by a hardline collective leadership and there are rumours that assassins acting in their name tried to kill Jong-nam in China this summer.

It appears to be the last act in a drama that began on a film set in the 1960s in Pyongyang, when a youthful Kim encountered a beguiling older woman who starred in patriotic movies. The two began an affair, even though Song was married to another man and had a daughter. They divorced and it was then that Song confided in her best friend, a dancer by the name of Kim Yong-sun, now 73.

“She was cute with a baby face,” Kim Yong-sun said. “But not too pretty because her jaw bordered on square and her face was not oval. She was good-natured, a very kind girl.” She gave her account to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, whose reporters contacted her in Seoul, where she lives since defecting from the north.

It was some time in 1969 when Song, her friend from school and university, came to tell her she was moving into Kim’s residence, staffed by eight cooks, 100 servants and 500 bodyguards. Kim Yong-sun recalled: “I asked her, ‘What about your husband?’ She didn’t answer and just said, ‘I may never see you again.’ I understood. How would that be possible?”

In 1971 Song gave birth to Jong-nam and the young father was apparently much enamoured, although her life from that moment was on a downward spiral. Kim’s father, whose word was law in North Korea, never approved of their liaison and it seems they never formally married.

Instead, Kim was obliged to wed another woman, Kim Yong-suk, with whom he had a daughter. Song’s relatives and friends said she fell into depression and suffered a series of mental breakdowns. Airbrushed out of North Korean history, she lingered in Moscow until her death at the age of 65 in May 2002, of unknown causes.

Bill Clinton Meets With Dear Leader

No, not our Dear Leader, but rather that little freak Kim Jong-il. I guess the boss of the imprisoned reporters, Al Gore, is too busy promoting some global warming scam and is too busy to show any concern for his employees.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made a surprise visit to North Korea on Tuesday to try to win the release of two jailed American journalists, and met the country's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il.

Some analysts said the visit, which U.S. officials insisted was a private one, could mark the isolated state's return to talks over nuclear weapons.

North Korea's KCNA news agency also said that Clinton, who had dinner with Kim, passed on a verbal message from U.S. President Barack Obama but gave no details. Washington said that no such message had been relayed.

"Kim Jong Il expressed thanks for this," KCNA said of the message. "He welcomed Clinton's visit to the DPRK (North Korea) and had an exhaustive conversation with him. There was a wide-ranging exchange of views on the matters of common concern."

The White House also appeared to play down speculation about a possible breakthrough in U.S.-North Korean relations by characterizing Clinton's trip as private.

"While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment. We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Yes, a "private meeting" used for propaganda purposes worldwide.

Smart diplomacy in action, I guess. Rumor has it Clinton's wife is Secretary of State, but I guess the Norks have no use for her.

No doubt Kim gave Clinton thanks for helping him obtain nuclear weapons during his administration.

Norks Behind Cyber Attacks?

Apparently our appeasement and smart diplomacy isn't quite getting through to the North Koreans. They're firing missiles on seemingly a daily basis and now they're suspected of being behind cyber attacks on South Korean and U.S. sites.

South Korean intelligence officials believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces in South Korea committed cyber attacks that paralyzed major South Korean and U.S. Web sites, a lawmaker's aide said Wednesday.

The sites of 11 South Korean organizations including the presidential Blue House and the Defense Ministry went down or had access problems since late Tuesday, according to the state-run Korea Information Security Agency. Agency spokeswoman Ahn Jeong-eun said 11 U.S. sites suffered similar problems.

On Wednesday, the National Intelligence Service told a group of South Korean lawmakers it believes that North Korea or North Korean sympathizers in the South "were behind" the attacks, according to an aide to one of the lawmakers briefed on the information.

The aide spoke on condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the information. He refused to allow the name of the lawmaker he works for to be published.

The National Intelligence Service — South Korea's main spy agency — said it couldn't immediately confirm the report.

Earlier Wednesday, the agency said in a statement that 12,000 computers in South Korea and 8,000 computers overseas had been infected and used for the cyber attack.

The agency said it believed the attack was "thoroughly" prepared and committed by hackers "at the level of a certain organization or state." It said it was cooperating with the American investigative authorities to examine the case.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said military intelligence officers were looking at the possibility that the attack may have been committed by North Korean hackers and pro-North Korea forces in South Korea. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report.

South Korean media reported in May that North Korea was running a cyber warfare unit that tries to hack into U.S. and South Korean military networks to gather confidential information and disrupt service.

An initial investigation in South Korea found that many personal computers were infected with a virus program ordering them to visit major official Web sites in South Korea and the U.S. at the same time, Korean information agency official Shin Hwa-su said. There has been no immediate reports of similar cyber attack in other Asian countries.

In the U.S., the Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the U.S. Independence Day holiday weekend and into this week, according to American officials inside and outside the government.

Others familiar with the U.S. outage, which is called a denial of service attack, said that the fact that the government Web sites were still being affected three days after it began signaled an unusually lengthy and sophisticated attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

Yonhap said that prosecutors have found some of the cyber attacks on the South Korean sites were accessed from overseas. Yonhap, citing an unnamed prosecution official, said the cyber attack used a method common to Chinese hackers.

Gee, there's a surprise.

No doubt a finger wag and strongly-worded letter are forthcoming.

'Taedong River Beer is the Pride of Pyongyang'

Just in time for their Fourth of July fireworks show, the Norks have now unveiled their own brand of beer.

I've consumed a lot of swill over the years, but I doubt I could work up a thirst for this.

In an apparent first, North Korea — a country that struggles to feed its 24 million people — has aired a beer commercial on state television.

The advertisement, which lasted nearly three minutes after a news program on Thursday, showed a grinning Korean man with sweat on his face holding a glass of beer, with a caption that read, "Taedong River Beer is the pride of Pyongyang."

The commercial said the beer relieves stress and improves health and longevity. It also showed images of a pub it said was in the capital of Pyongyang, filled with people drinking.

Normally, there are no advertisements on television in North Korea, an isolated, communist country that tightly controls its economy and is wary of capitalistic influences.

Programming consists of news, factory descriptions, some children's animation shows, and documentaries on leader Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung, interspersed with propaganda slogans and music, according to a South Korean Unification Ministry official.

The official, who has been monitoring the North's television for more than two decades, told The Associated Press that it was the first time he had seen any sort of advertisement for food, much less beer — although he has seen programs on North Korean cuisine. He asked not to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to media.

The commercial assured viewers of the beer's quality and nutritional value, saying it was made of rice and contained protein and vitamin B2.

It was unclear how much the beer cost and how many North Koreans could afford it. The country is among the poorest in the world, with an average per capita income of $1,065 in 2008, according to the South's central bank.

It's 3 am, Does Anyone Know Where Obama Is?

Seems to me a direct threat to our nation should be met forcefully and immediately. Heck, we're getting advance notice from a rogue regime they'll be attacking us and Obama is nowhere to be found.

North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.

The missile, believed to be a long-range Taepodong-2, would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.

The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.

While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.

A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service—the country's main spy agency—said they could not confirm it.

Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has spiked since the North conducted its second nuclear test on May 25 in defiance of repeated international warnings. The regime declared Saturday it would bolster its nuclear programs and threatened war in protest of U.N. sanctions taken for the nuclear test.

U.S. officials have said the North has been preparing to fire a long-range missile capable of striking the western U.S. In Washington on Tuesday, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would take at least three to five years for North Korea to pose a real threat to the U.S. west coast.

President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met in Washington on Tuesday for a landmark summit in which they agreed to build a regional and global "strategic alliance" to persuade North Korea to dismantle all its nuclear weapons. Obama declared North Korea a "grave threat" to the world and pledged that the new U.N. sanctions on the communist regime will be aggressively enforced.

A landmark summit? UN sanctions?

Who are they kidding?

Obama is more concerned with whining about Fox News and Rush Limbaugh than he is about these maniacs threatening to fire missiles at us. His cowardice and fecklessness endangers us all.

Wizard of Uhhhs Discusses North Korea Without TOTUS

A remarkably clueless Barack Obama discusses the situation in North Korea without the aid of any visual devices. You can sense Nicolas Sarkozy is ashamed to be in the same room with him. I'm wondering if Obama could find North Korea on a map after this dreadful performance.

H/T Seafood Gumbo.

Smart Diplomacy: Norks Sentence Gore's Reporters to 12 Years Hard Labor

We figure without the back-channel negotiations of Obama's vaunted foreign-policy team led by Mrs. Clinton, along offers from Al Gore, these two probably would have gotten 25 years hard labor.

So chalk up another win for smart diplomacy.

A court in North Korea has sentenced two US journalists to 12 years' hard labour, state media say.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling were found guilty of "hostile acts" and illegal entry into the communist state.

They were arrested in March after allegedly crossing into North Korea from China.

The US said it was "deeply concerned" by the sentence and called for the release of the two women on humanitarian grounds.

The trial comes amid growing tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme and recent missile tests.

"The trial confirmed the grave crime they [the reporters] committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing," state-run KCNA news agency said in a brief report, adding that they were sentenced to 12 years of "reform through labour".

The news agency gave no further details.

Outside observers were not allowed to witness the hearing at Pyongyang's court.

The verdict means that the journalists face the prospect of spending years in one of the North's prison camps, where conditions are reported to be extremely harsh, the BBC's Chris Hogg in Seoul says.

In a statement, the US State Department said: "We are deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release."

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton earlier described the charges against the two women as "baseless". She is thought to be considering sending an envoy to try to negotiate their release.

There has been speculation that former US Vice-President Al Gore might travel to Pyongyang. He is the co-founder of Current TV, the California-based internet broadcaster the two journalists were working for.

Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, were arrested by North Korean guards on 17 March while working on the China-North Korea border on a story about refugees.

So these two have been held for nearly three months and just now Mrs. Clinton show deep concern and is considering sending an envoy over there?

Good thing the world loves us again.

Al Gore's Reporters To Go On Trial in North Korea

I still haven't heard a word about these two from the bloated environmental crusader. Makes me think he just doesn't care about their fate.

Apparently the smart diplomacy from Team Obama isn't making any headway, either.

As global powers debate how to punish North Korea for its nuclear defiance, two American journalists seized nearly three months ago face a trial this week in Pyongyang on charges that could land them in one of the country's notorious labor camps.

North Korean guards detained Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture, at the northeastern border with China on March 17. Activists who helped organize their trip say they had been reporting on North Korean women and children who fled to China for an uncertain life as refugees.

Pyongyang accused the Americans of engaging in "hostile acts" and crossing into communist North Korea illegally, and announced two weeks ago the women will stand trial June 4 in the nation's top court. Legal experts say conviction for "hostility" or espionage could mean five to 10 years in a labor camp.

Their detention and trial comes at a sensitive time in the diplomatic scramble to rein in an increasingly belligerent Pyongyang, which conducted an underground nuclear test last Monday and punctuated the defiance with an array of short-range missile tests. Diplomats at the U.N. are discussing a new Security Council resolution.

Oh my, another piece of paper sure to get the Norks in line.

In the meantime, get ready for another fireworks show.

North Korea also appears to be preparing to launch a long-range missile, a South Korean defense official confirmed Sunday. He asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the issue. U.S. military officials say there are signs of activity at North Korea's nuclear reactor that could indicate work to restart the facility and resume production of nuclear fuel.

Analysts warned North Korea could use the trial of the Americans to better its hand in the weeks before Obama and South Korea's Lee Myung-bak hold a White House summit June 16.

"Having two journalists detained in the North leaves the U.S. very little maneuvering room since Washington now has to take the women's safety into account," said Yoon Deok-min, a professor at South Korea's state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security.

Non-Crisis Continues: Norks Test New Missile

The Norks just unclenched their fist again.

North Korea has launched a short-range missile from its Musudan-ri rocket launch site on the country's east coast, a South Korean government official said Friday.

"What the North has launched this time appears to be different from what it had launched (previously)," the official said. "It is a new type of a land-to-air missile," the official said.

But don't worry, this isn't a crisis.

"I don't think that anybody in the administration thinks there is a crisis,"Gates said. "What we do have, though, are two new developments that are very provocative, that are aggressive, accompanied by very aggressive rhetoric."

Gates' comments, damping tensions, came after reports that U.S. and South Korean forces had been put on alert as North Korea said it was preparing for a U.S. attack.

It might be time for some more "sanctions" and strongly-worded letters.

Lil' Kim Missed the Memo About the World Loving Us Again

Funny, isn't it, how the world's dictators have become increasingly belligerent the past four months? All this yammering about hope, change and smart diplomacy is really paying off.

North Korea threatened a military response to South Korean participation in a U.S.-led program to seize weapons of mass destruction, and said it will no longer abide by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

“The Korean People’s Army will not be bound to the Armistice Agreement any longer,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement today. Any attempt to inspect North Korean vessels will be countered with “prompt and strong military strikes.”

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak ordered his government to take “calm” measures on the threats, his office said in a statement today. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Takeo Kawamura, echoed those remarks and called on North Korea to “refrain from taking actions that would elevate tensions in Asia.”

The threats are the strongest since North Korea tested a nuclear weapon on May 25, drawing international condemnation and the prospect of increased sanctions against the communist nation. South Korea dispatched a warship to its maritime border and is prepared to deploy aircraft, Yonhap News reported, citing military officials it didn’t identify.

The strongest threats in two days. Looks like they're not sitting around waiting for a call from Mrs. Clinton, who has mysteriously fallen off the radar in recent days.

Seems to me Lil' Kim smells weakness.

Had they not heard that Obama wants to "usher in a new era of diplomacy"?

Actually, they likely realize it all too well.

For one, Obama's fondness for talking has done much to reassure the world's bad actors that they needn't fear anything more from the US -- at least in the short run.

Plus, Iran and Korea seem to grasp the most basic rule of diplomacy: If you are going to negotiate, be sure to do it from a position of perceived strength.

Far better for America to be seen begging meekly for an audience after their show of force -- rather than the other way around.

That's something Obama needs to grasp pronto -- before the world becomes an even more combustible place.

If that's possible.

Of course some will do what Obama reflexively does and blame Bush. Good luck selling that argument to anyone outside of the leftwing blogosphere and MSNBC.

First, on the political front, North Korea's Kim Jong Il has challenged President Obama more in four months than he did President George W. Bush in eight years.

Since Obama has taken office, North Korea has kicked out UN nuclear inspectors, launched both short- and long-range missiles and tested a nuclear weapon.

It's not clear why the dictator has chosen to badger Obama, especially considering the president's promises of a kinder, gentler touch when it comes to rogues. But it's definitely not good news for Uncle Sam -- and the conclusion has to be that more provocations are coming in our direction.

The question is: When and how big will the next one be?

Well, Team Smart Diplomacy may want to look south.

Bolivia denied supplying uranium to Iran for its nuclear program, saying Tuesday that it has never produced the metallic element, a key ingredient for nuclear energy and weapons.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez joined top Bolivian officials in dismissing the allegations after a secret Israeli government report accused both nations of providing Iran with uranium.

Bolivian Presidential Minister Juan Ramon Quintana called it nonsense and labeled Israel's intelligence agency a bunch of incompetent "clowns."

I fear we have our own incompetent clowns here in DC.

Meanwhile, the clown-in-chief made no mention of the growing world threats while partying in Las Vegas. The man does have his priorities in order.

“It is good to be back in Vegas,” Mr. Obama told supporters gathered in the Poker Tournament Room at Caesar’s Palace. “I thought I had a good room at Ceaser’s, but now that I am president they upgraded me. They have been stashing away a really nice room. It’s like one of those high-roller rooms. And now I have it because I am president.”

Norks Launch Another Missile As Obama Hits Vegas for Fundraiser

I imagine Obama was working on his putting stroke on his way west to shake down some fatcats for Dingy Harry.

The cards may not be stacked in President Obama's favor as he arrives in Las Vegas tonight for a fundraiser with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev..

More than three months after the president's comments suggesting executives avoid using taxpayer money to fund trips like junkets to Vegas, Obama could receive a lukewarm reception Tuesday at Caesar's Palace.

I guess while he's off on fundraising junkets somebody's back monitoring what he yesterday termed a grave crisis, one turining more grave by the hour.

North Korea has fired off another missile, the latest in a series since its nuclear test two days ago, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Wednesday.

The North fired a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) overnight, it quoted a Seoul government source as saying.

"Intelligence authorities are now closely monitoring the situation," the source said.

The communist state fired three short-range ground-to-air missiles from locations near its east coast on Monday, the same day it conducted an underground nuclear test that shocked the world.

Shocked the world? Who exactly is shocked by what they do any more?

As for the grave crisis, all Obama says is I'm going to Vegas, baby!

Norks Fire Two Short-Range Missiles

Gee, I hope this doesn't interrupt Obama's fundraising trip to Las Vegas. After all, he's got to keep his priorities in order.

North Korea fired two short-range missiles from its east coast Tuesday -- a day after conducting a nuclear test -- South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing a South Korean official.

"The North is continuing its saber-rattling," the unnamed official said.

The firings came a day after the reclusive communist state conducted a nuclear test and fired another short-range missile.

"We should be clear that these are short-range missiles. They are in the realm of anti-ship or anti-aircraft missiles, not missiles designed to target cities or other country population centers," said analyst Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group, which describes itself as an independent non-profit group committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict.

The U.N. Security Council condemned Monday's nuclear test as a "clear violation" of international law.

Even the North's closest ally criticized its actions. China said North Korea "disregarded the opposition of the international community."

How's That Smart Diplomacy Working Out?

Uh oh, Bammy's angry now. Probably so fired up his TelePrompter is cobbling together a strongly-worded denunciation as we speak.

The international community has condemned North Korea after it carried out an underground nuclear test with a payload comparable to the American bombs that hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

U.S. President Barack Obama said the move was 'a threat to international peace and security'.

He added: 'These actions, while not a surprise given its statements and actions to date, are a matter of grave concern to all nations.'

North Korea carried out the 'successful' underground nuclear test early this morning, triggering an artificial earthquake with a magnitude of 4.7.

The blast appears to be up to 20 times more powerful than the country's first nuclear test carried out just three years ago.

Then, the blast was measured at just one kiloton - but today's blast was estimated by the Russian defence ministry to be up to 20 kilotons.

The bomb that America dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 carried a payload of 15 kilotons while the one that hit Nagasaki was 22 kilotons, according to nuclearweaponarchive.org.

One kiloton is equal to the force produced by 1,000 tons of TNT.

Time to flex that spine of steel now, isn't it?

It's really shame he's becoming distracted by these pesky little world issues. I'm sure he'd prefer to get back to the important stuff, like attacking radio talk show hosts.