Reporters are welcome in North Korea but

In light of the fanfare about the two two American journalists recently being released, it's not that Pyongyang doesn't welcome journalists to the People's Paradise of North Korea. Each year, scores of journalists are invited to cover everything from glitzy festivals to picturesque mountain resorts and showcase factories.

[However] everyone must obey the rules, which constantly change to make spontaneous exchanges with ordinary citizens very difficult, says one foreign journalist who visited Pyongyang recently. "This time," says the reporter, "I could take my laptop, but I could not walk alone in Pyongyang."

Cell phones and GPS's are a no-no, trips to the countryside without permission are almost always forbidden, with the occasional but rare exception. Most journalists are shepherded by a guide wherever they go, which is usually to view monuments of Kim Jong il and his deceased dad. They are told to shy away from asking citizens political questions.

While residents of Pyongyang are less afraid to interact with foreigners than, say, a decade ago, they won't speak to journalists without permission.

[Source: TIME]

Kim Jong-Il only a year to live?

There are signs that Kim Jong-Il is still not well nearly a year after he apparently suffered a stroke. Now The Washington Times, citing U.S. and diplomatic sources, speculates he may only have a year to live.

In TV footage Wednesday, the 67-year-old Kim was markedly thinner and had less hair. He also limped slightly, and the sides of his tightlipped mouth looked imbalanced in what were believed to be the effects of a stroke he reportedly suffered last August.

[Photo at LEFT 2007 ----- Photo at RIGHT July 2009]

Images of the gaunt Kim made the front pages of many South Korean newspapers Thursday. Chosun Ilbo said the loss of weight and hair appear to be result of other health problems. Shinmun reported that the sides of Kim's mouth could suggest the aftereffects of the stroke have worsened.

South Korea's spy agency has long suspected that Kim has diabetes and heart disease. Medical doctor and professor Min Yang-ki of Seoul's Hallym University Medical Center said diabetes usually leads to weight loss. The neurologist also said Kim's limping appears to be a result of a stroke. However, he said, overall it appeared Kim has recovered from the illness.

Kim Jong Il's successor (“envelope please”) ... Paek Se Bong!

Although it's gone unnoticed by foreign analysts, Kim Jong Il's successor is actually: Paek Se Bong.

But who is Paek Se Bong? Ah, that’s the problem. Paek is a mystery person. Search the archives of the North’s official Korean Central News Agency and the name comes up only twice, the first time when Paek was originally appointed to the commission in 2003. If Paek had not been re-elected April 9 this year the original reference could have been forgotten as a historical anomaly — but here we have evidence that Paek, after six years of invisibility, is very much with us.

The name evidently is a pseudonym — understandable to many North Koreans as shorthand for the “Three Peaks of Mt. Paektu,” a term the regime uses to associate Kim, his father and his mother with a high mountain on the Chinese border that is sacred in both ancient Korean mythology and communist propaganda.

Paek Se Bong, then, is a code term for one or more Kim family members being groomed to take over as next-generation head of the dynasty.

[Excerpt of an article by Bradley K. Martin, veteran Asia correspondent]

Imagine: Kim Jong Il to visit the USA

Now here’s a novel idea: Peter Carlsen, writing in the Contra Costa Times, offers his opinion that President Obama should invite Kim Jong Il to the United States and let him wander around for a couple of weeks, sipping cocktails with capitalists, visiting a home economics class in Iowa and mingling with Hollywood stars.

Fifty years ago, in similar circumstances, that's what President Dwight Eisenhower did, and it worked — sort of. In 1959, Nikita Khrushchev, the eccentric and unpredictable Soviet dictator, was misbehaving, rattling his nukes and threatening West Berlin. Negotiations over the city's fate proved fruitless, so Ike tried a different strategy: Khrushchev, who loved to travel, immediately accepted, replying that he'd like to ramble around the country for "10 to 15 days." When Khrushchev arrived at Camp David for a weekend of talks with Eisenhower, the two leaders did not sign any epoch-making agreements, but they agreed to convene a four-power summit with the British and the French to solve the sticky problem of Berlin.

The trip didn't quite transform Khrushchev into an Eisenhower Republican, but it did change his attitude toward the United States. He learned that this country wasn't the capitalist nightmare portrayed in Soviet propaganda. In fact, he kind of liked the place.

It's hard to tell whether a similar trip would have a similar effect on Kim Jong Il — so let's invite him and find out. It just might help. After all, he has a well-documented fondness for American pop culture.

Kim loves basketball so let's get him some good seats to an NBA game. Kim loves pizza. So why not let him eat his way through New York's Little Italy, then fly him to Chicago to sample some deep-dish? Kim loves monuments. So let's take him to Mount Rushmore and let him see what you get when you carve a monument out of a mountain.

But what Kim loves most — aside from absolute power — is movies. Let's take him to Hollywood, let him lunch with Liz Taylor and maybe some younger starlets, too, like Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba or Beyonce. That kind of company can change a man's outlook on life.

After all, it really is a small world. As Ike realized 50 years ago, nuclear war would not be good for it.

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South Korea intelligence says no unusual signs in North Korea

South Korea's government and private analysts questioned media reports that North Korea was poised to make an important announcement possibly concerning the health of its leader, Kim Jong Il, or a power shift in the communist nation.

Kim has been the focus of intense speculation since he disappeared from public view in mid August. U.S. and South Korean officials suspect he suffered a stroke and had brain surgery. North Korea has flatly denied there is anything wrong with its 66-year-old leader.

On Sunday, Japan's Sankei newspaper reported that the Japanese government had information North Korea would issue an "important announcement" on Monday and that it could be about Kim's death or a government change induced by a coup. North Korea will also ban foreigners from entering the country starting Monday, the Sankei said.

The report came a day after Japan's largest newspaper, the Yomiuri, said North Korea had ordered its diplomats abroad to be on standby for an important announcement.

South Korean Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said it has not detected any unusual signs across the heavily fortified border with North Korea such as a strengthened security posture or an increase in telephone calls. The National Intelligence Service — South Korea's main spy agency — also said it could not confirm the Japanese reports.

[AP]