They sent the wrong Bosworth

THE NYTIMES proclaims "U.S. Envoy Makes Rare Visit to North Korea", and it seems like the White House is initiating something. According to Choe Sang-Hun,

The visit by the representative, Stephen W. Bosworth, signaled a new phase in United States diplomacy toward North Korea. For months, the United States had focused on punishing North Korea, leading an international campaign to enforce sanctions imposed on it for testing a long-range rocket in April and detonating a nuclear device in May.

This is good, but I'm wondering. Steve looks like a swell dude, but he's up against somebody whose reality is like this:

Maybe the White house sent the wrong Bosworth. Maybe they should have sent a real power-projector, like Brian Bosworth, say like he was in Stone Cold. Kim likes kool. Just give him a set of dubs for the state limo. Kim needs a chopper.

More on the Juche Joint

THE WASHINGTON POST has a disturbing article by Blaine Harden on the giant Gulag system that has been operating for some fifty years in Socialist Wonderland. 

A distillation of testimony from survivors and former guards, newly published by the Korean Bar Association, details the daily lives of 200,000 political prisoners estimated to be in the camps: Eating a diet of mostly corn and salt, they lose their teeth, their gums turn black, their bones weaken and, as they age, they hunch over at the waist. Most work 12- to 15-hour days until they die of malnutrition-related illnesses, usually around the age of 50. Allowed just one set of clothes, they live and die in rags, without soap, socks, underclothes or sanitary napkins. 

The camps have never been visited by outsiders, so these accounts cannot be independently verified. But high-resolution satellite photographs, now accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, reveal vast labor camps in the mountains of North Korea. The photographs corroborate survivors' stories, showing entrances to mines where former prisoners said they worked as slaves, in-camp detention centers where former guards said uncooperative prisoners were tortured to death and parade grounds where former prisoners said they were forced to watch executions. Guard towers and electrified fences surround the camps, photographs show.

Sad, and forgotten.

News from the Juche Joint

THE LA TIMES HAS A SAD REPORT ON THE RETURN OF JUCHE in North Korea, as the prime economic goal of the psychopaths that run the country. The report, written by Barbara Demick, details how the regime has banned imports from China and everywhere else.

In the markets of Kilju, a city of 100,000 near North Korea's eastern seacoast, the ruling Korean Workers' Party has ordered the removal of Chinese-made cookies, candies and pharmaceuticals.

Even soybeans, many articles of clothing and shoes are now forbidden.

It is all part of a great leap backward taking place in the secretive autocracy. North Koreans interviewed in China in recent weeks say that the regime of Kim Jong Il has made a concerted effort to roll back reforms that had over the last decade liberalized the most strictly controlled economy in the world.

Why should you care?

The economic restrictions reflect the rising power of the hard-liners within the staunchly communist regime and go hand in hand with the belligerent mood that led to North Korea's May 25 nuclear test. Those jostling for power in the scramble created by the failing health of 68-year-old North Korean leader Kim Jong Il are raising the banner of juche, the term coined by his father, Kim Il Sung, the country's founder, for an ideology emphasizing self-sufficiency.

North Korea has in effect scuttled dialogue with the United States, South Korea and Japan, shut down South Korean business interests within its borders and evicted many humanitarian aid operations.

AP HAS A REPORT on the latest missile tests, with an interesting statistic:

The North has about 600 Scuds, plus 200 Rodong-1 missiles -- which could reach Tokyo.

Dangerous people, folks. ASIA TIMES has an article with a good over-view of the history of the North Korean missile efforts. When you look at the chart below, the staggering cost of developing all these missiles becomes apparent: that's a lot of engineering and expensive fabrication. No wonder the poor North Koreans can't get enough to eat.