Sounds like an apology to North Korea to me

A U.S.-based scholar who just visited Pyongyang says North Korea might release two convicted American journalists if the United States offers a gesture such as an official apology.

University of Georgia political scientist Han Park said that the two, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, are being kept at a guest house in the North Korean capital and the delay in sending them to a prison labor camp may be an attempt to seek talks with Washington on their release.

"North Korea's move not to carry out the sentence suggests that it could release them through a dialogue with the United States and they could be set free at an early date, depending on the U.S. gesture," Park said in a interview with South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.

Meanwhile in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the reporters have expressed "great remorse for this incident."

Clinton called on North Korea to grant the two amnesty and allow them to quickly return home to their families. She said "everyone is very sorry that it happened."

"This is a regrettable incident," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley added to reporters later Friday.

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.

Financials for North Koreans in Seoul

Hanawon, the government-run institution that helps defectors settle in South Korea, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Wednesday. 16,513 North Koreans have arrived in South Korea as of June this year. And a further 3,000 North Koreans are expected this year, which will bring the total close to 20,000 living in South Korea.

Oddly, 58.4 percent of defectors who have settled in the South still consider themselves North Koreans, and only 6.3 percent think of themselves as South Koreans.

When they arrive in Seoul, North Korean defectors undergo a three-month adjustment period at Hanawon and are given a rented apartment equivalent to W13 million ($10,164) in housing support and another W6 million ($4,691). to help them settle.

Despite this administrative support, defectors continue to feel like outsiders in South Korea, one major reason being the difficulty finding good jobs. The average monthly salary is W937,000 ( $732). Day labor jobs account for 42.6 percent, according to the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. By comparison, only 9.2 percent of South Koreans eke out a living from day labor.

[Chosun Ilbo]

North Korean hacker attacks?

Web sites of major South Korean government agencies, including the presidential Blue House and the Defense Ministry, and some banking sites were paralyzed Tuesday.

The powerful attack that overwhelmed computers at U.S. and South Korean government agencies for days was even broader than initially realized, also targeting the White House, the Pentagon and the New York Stock Exchange. Other targets of the attack included the National Security Agency, Homeland Security Department, State Department, the Nasdaq stock market and The Washington Post.

The Associated Press obtained the target list from security experts analyzing the attacks. It was not immediately clear who might be responsible or what their motives were. South Korean intelligence officials believe the attacks were carried out by North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces.The attack was remarkably successful in limiting public access to victim Web sites, but internal e-mail systems are typically unaffected in such attacks.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service, the nation's principal spy agency, told a group of South Korean lawmakers Wednesday 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.

Web sites of major South Korean government agencies, including the presidential Blue House and the Defense Ministry, and some banking sites were paralyzed Tuesday. An initial investigation found that many personal computers were infected with a virus ordering them to visit major official Web sites in South Korea and the U.S. at the same time, Korea Information Security Agency official Shin Hwa-su said.

A glimpse of Kim Jong-un making the rounds?

Chosun Ilbo reports that South Korean intelligence services spotted a young-looking one-star general walking behind North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in images taken during tours, and speculate it may be the elusive heir apparent Kim Jong-un.

An intelligence officer said, "In the process of closely scrutinizing photos and video images... we twice or three times spotted a young man in his mid- or late 20s in a one-star general's uniform escorting Kim, but it's unclear who he is because their definition is poor and the images are small."

He added the young man "could be" Kim Jong-un, or a son of another senior official. But he added it was "most unlikely" that a mere bodyguard would wear a general's insignia.

A senior government official said Kim junior is believed to be working at the Administrative Department of the National Defense Commission, North Korea's supreme power organ. "But we don't know whether he has any rank or position within the military. If the story about Kim Jong-un being the heir apparent is founded, he is apparently learning how to control and supervise the military under the military-first doctrine."