In and Around North Korea: 21 - 27 March 2009

• South Korea's chief envoy on the North Korean nuclear issue will make a two-day trip to Beijing this week to talk with Chinese officials over Pyongyang's planned rocket launch and the stalled six-way negotiations, officials said Sunday [22 March]. Wi So'ng-rak will meet China's Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei on Tuesday to discuss preemptive and counter steps with regard to North Korea's planned missile launch, as well as ways to resume the six-way talks aimed at resolving Pyongyang's nuclear ambition, according to them. "After visiting China, Wi will also visit the United States to hold talks with officials," an official said asking not to be named.

• Japan's chief nuclear negotiator Akitaka Saiki met Monday [23 March] with his Chinese counterpart for talks on the six-party process for denuclearizing North Korea as well as Pyongyang's plan to launch a rocket next month. Saiki, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, arrived in Beijing on Sunday evening for a brief visit to meet with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei.

• South Korea's chief delegate to the six-party talks on North Korea's denuclearization will make a two-day visit to China from Tuesday [24 March], South Korea's foreign ministry spokesman said Monday. Wi Sung Lac will hold talks with China's Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei on Tuesday to discuss North Korea's planned missile launch and ways to resume stalled six-party talks, Moon Tae Young said at a press briefing. After visiting China, Wi will visit the United States for talks with U.S. officials, Moon said, adding that the specific date for Wi's trip to the United States has not yet been finalized.

• The United States is committed to diplomatic efforts in denuclearizing North Korea, its envoy to Seoul reiterated Monday [23 March], dismissing the possibility of resorting to military force. "We have to be very persistent and strong. We don't want to see war here," responded U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens after a lecture to university students in Seoul when asked whether Washington would consider using force as an option to end North Korea's nuclear program. "Nobody wants to see war and violence on the Korean Peninsula. Everyone understands what a disastrous course that would be," Stephens said.

• North Korea warned Tuesday [24 March] it will boycott the six-party nuclear talks if the United Nations imposes sanctions over its rocket launch, saying such punitive measures violate a multilateral agreement on mutual respect. "If such a hostile activity is carried out under the name of the U.N. Security Council, that would be a breach of the Sept. 19 joint statement by the U.N. Security Council itself," the North's Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement, referring to a 2005 accord reached at the six-party talks. The talks involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.

• A senior U.S. diplomat signaled Tuesday [24 March] that the United States hopes to maintain the framework of six-party talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs even if the North launches what is widely thought to be a long-range ballistic missile. "We don't want to take the kind of response that makes it impossible to restart the six-party talks," James Zumwalt, charge d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, told reporters.

• North Korea said on Thursday [26 March] it would restart its nuclear plant that makes arms-grade plutonium if the United Nations punishes it for what Pyongyang plans as a satellite launch next month. North Korea has frozen its aging nuclear reactor and started to take apart its Yongbyon atomic plant under a deal signed by North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, the United States and China in 2005 that called for economic aid and better diplomatic standing for the isolated North in return.

• North Korea's latest threat to boycott the six-party talks aimed at its denuclearization is emerging as yet another diplomatic hurdle for the five other nations committed to the discussions. The North has said it would not participate in the talks if the United Nations Security Council sanctions' committee penalizes the North after it launches a rocket next month. Pyongyang intends to launch a satellite between April 4-8, but the international society believes it will be a long-range missile.

• North Korea on Thursday [26 March] blasted Seoul as a "traitor" for backing U.N. sanctions against its imminent rocket launch, reasserting its right to launch a satellite. Intelligence sources said North Korea could be technically ready for the launch by this weekend, having loaded its rocket onto a launch pad on its east coast. But Seoul officials believe North Korea will wait until the period it has notified U.N. aviation and shipping agencies -- some time between 4 and 8. South Korea, the United States and Japan believe the satellite launch could be actually covered for a long-range missile test as the technologies involved are virtually the same. The three countries have warned the rocket launch would be a breach of a U.N. resolution banning the North from ballistic missile activity.

• North Korea will call the first meeting of its newly elected assembly on April 9, the state media said Friday [20 March], which would be shortly after the country's planned rocket launch. "The First Session of the 12th SPA will be convened in Pyongyang on April 9," the Korean Central News Agency said, referring to the North's parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly. The date was officially chosen on Monday, the two-sentence report said.

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Il recently met with hundreds of front-line soldiers at a military gathering held in Pyongyang, the country's state media reported Saturday [21 March]. At the meeting in the North Korean capital, Kim waved to active outpost soldiers who "cheered towards Kim in the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace," reported the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA).

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has visited an art troupe remaking a Chinese opera as part of celebrations marking the allies' 60 years of relations, the country's state media said Sunday [22 March]. State media have been reporting on Kim's public activity for five consecutive days. Some of the latest photos showed a much leaner Kim, with little trace of his trademark potbelly.

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has more than tripled his number of public activities this year, a Seoul spokesman said Monday [23 March], as questions about his health reemerged after a recent picture showed him looking much leaner. The 67-year-old Kim, who reportedly suffered a stroke last August, appeared to have lost a considerable amount weight, with little trace of his trademark potbelly in a photo taken during his visit to a new swimming pool released by North Korea's state media on Friday. Seoul officials could not say whether his weight loss was caused by ill health, age or a weight control program. South Korea's Unification Ministry said the Seoul government was watching Kim's movements closely, noting his stepped-up public activity is "very unusual."

• Kim Kyong Hui, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and wife of powerful Workers` Party member Chang Sung Taek, is said to be in critical condition or almost in a coma due to complications associated with alcohol use disorders. French neurosurgeon Francois-Xavier Roux, 65, who was recruited by the North Korean leader’s eldest son Kim Jong Nam, is said to have treated Kim Kyong Hui, 63. A Korean-Japanese businessman who can freely enter Pyongyang via Beijing said yesterday that her long addiction to alcohol caused severe brain damage. Despite risk of exposure, Kim Jong Nam brought Roux from France to Pyongyang last year as he is known to be close with his aunt.

• Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, provided field guidance to the Jaeryong Mine. After being briefed on the mine in front of the map showing a panoramic view of the Sungri Mining District and going round stopes, he acquainted himself in detail with the progress made in the preparations for reenergizing the production there and the mineral output. He was accompanied by Kim Rak Hui, chief secretary of the South Hwanghae Provincial Committee of the WPK, and Pak Nam-ki and Chang So'ng-t'aek, department directors of the Central Committee of the WPK.

• North Korea is expected to revise the constitution next month to make the National Defense Commission its topmost government organ, according to a researcher at a South Korean state-run think tank. The constitutional amendment is expected to take place at the Supreme People's Assembly which opens on April 9, according to Lee. "The NDC will be expanded to include Kim Jong-Il’s closest associates in the Workers' Party and the government as well as the military," he said.

• North Koreans have begun planting rice with a vow to solve the food shortage, Pyongyang's state media said Monday [23 March], despite lacking the usual aid from South Korea for the second year. The Seoul government was still undecided about civic organizations' request to send 3 billion won (US$2 million) worth of agricultural plastic covers and fertilizers to North Korea, a delay that makes it virtually impossible to help with North's rice farming this year due to time constraints.

• Five humanitarian groups that distribute US aid in North Korea say they are “saddened” by the reclusive country’s decision this past week to expel them by the end of the month but remain committed to assisting the country’s people. “Until the end of the month, we will work with our North Korean partners to ensure a proper closeout,” stated the five organisations Friday in a joint statement. A US State Department spokesman had confirmed earlier this week that North Korea refused to accept future US food aid and asked Mercy Corps, World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Global Resource Services and Christian Friends of Korea to leave by the end of March. "We're obviously disappointed," State Department spokesman Robert Woods told reporters. "Clearly, this is food assistance that the North Korean people need. That's why we're concerned ... The food situation in North Korea is not a good one."

• The food prices in North Korean markets have been stable of late. A defector named Kim, who keeps in touch with his family in the North, reported Monday [23 March] in a telephone conversation with The Daily NK: "The current food prices remain stable, according to sources from Hoeryo'ng and Pyongyang."

• North Korea will not talk to South Korea or the United States until they stop accusing the communist nation of being a human rights violator, the North said Friday [20 March], adding inter-Korean relations are already at a point where "war may break out at any moment.” "There can be no 'human rights' issue in the DPRK in the light of the nature of its socialist system or its mission and aim, as it is the most dignified socialist system centered on the popular masses, which was chosen by the Korean people themselves and is being protected by them as their faith," an unidentified spokesman for the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement.

• South Korea has co-sponsored a U.N. resolution condemning North Korea's human rights abuses that is expected to be put to a vote next week, officials here said Friday [20 March]. "We co-sponsored the European Union-drafted resolution submitted to the 10th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council underway in Geneva," a foreign ministry official said, asking not to be named.

• With North Korea widely expected to launch a long-range missile in early April, some ROK Government officials and media outlets have raised the possibility of greater South Korean participation in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). Recent remarks by ROK defense and foreign ministry officials indicate Seoul may consider moving away from its current partial participation in the PSI to a more robust role.

• Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie urged North Korea not to go ahead with a proposed satellite launch during a meeting with his Japanese counterpart here on Friday, the first time Beijing has overtly demanded Pyongyang back down from a rocket launch.

• North Korea has informed South Korean air traffic control that it will temporarily close two air routes between April 4-8, during which it aims to launch a satellite, officials said Saturday [21 March]. The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime said that the North Korean Air Route Traffic Control Center informed its South Korean counterpart earlier in the day of the planned closure. "North Korean officials attributed the closure to the country's planned launch of a satellite," said a ministry official. North Korea will close only the Pyongyang-monitored parts of the two routes, R452 and G346 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. [0200-0700 GMT] during the five days, according to the ministry.

• Two American warships, initially deployed for the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise, will remain in the waters near the Korean Peninsula in preparation for the suspected long-range rocket launch by North Korea next month, a military source said yesterday. Two Aegis-class destroyers will stay behind although the annual military drills, codenamed Key Resolve, wrapped up on Friday. "It's my understanding that two Aegis destroyers, including the 9,200-ton USS John S. McCain, will stay behind for a new mission in the East Sea," said the source. "They will prepare for North Korea's (suspected) missile launch."

• If North Korea persists in launching a missile, the government plans to immediately call to convening a meeting of the UN Security Council [UNSC]. On the day of the missile launch, Prime Minister Taro Aso will hold a phone conversation with leaders of other countries and ask for concerted action. Meanwhile, Japan will give shape to its own plan to impose stricter sanctions. Thus, Japan is poised to increase pressure against North Korea.

• Chief negotiators for the six-party denuclearization talks from the United States, Japan and South Korea plan to gather in Washington Friday [27 March] to discuss dealing with the expected launch of a North Korean rocket, informed sources said Monday. The three countries apparently aim to demonstrate their unified stance on the rocket launch expected to come in early April. Some countries believe it is a cover for test-firing a missile. It will be the first meeting, if realized, of the chief nuclear negotiators of the three countries since the launch of the U.S. administration under President Barack Obama.

• South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator said Tuesday [24 March] that he will focus on mapping out contingency plans in case of a North Korean missile launch with his Chinese counterpart in talks later in the day. "To be mainly discussed are measures before and after North Korea fires a missile," Wi So'ng-rak said shortly before flying to Beijing, where he will meet China's Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei.

• North Korea has positioned what is believed to be a Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile on the launch pad at a facility in Musudanri, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said Wednesday [25 March] night. North Korea has said it plans to send a satellite into orbit from the facility between April 4 and 8. But Japan, the United States and South Korea suspect the planned launch may actually be a test-firing of a ballistic missile.

• North Korea has placed a long-range missile on a launch pad, a US official has said, as Washington warned it would take the matter to the United Nations if Pyongyang goes ahead with the planned launch. A US counter-proliferation official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Japanese press reports that a long-range missile has been placed on a launch pad "are accurate." Two stages of the missile were visible but the top was covered with a shroud supported by a crane, NBC television reported, citing US officials.

• North Korea has been upping the ante in future rounds of multilateral nuclear talks with threats to launch a rocket and other provocative actions against the U.S. and its allies, the commander of the U.S. forces in Korea said Tuesday [24 March]. "North Korea's most recent provocative actions are all an attempt to ensure the regime's survival and improve its bargaining position at international negotiations to gain concessions," Gen. Walter Sharp said in a House Armed Services Committee hearing. The commander told a Senate hearing last week that North Korea has been "fielding a new intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of striking Okinawa, Guam and Alaska, and continues to develop and mature systems with an intercontinental range capability."

• China's chief of general staff met with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul on Wednesday as their governments struggle to defuse tension over North Korea's planned rocket launch. A defense official in Seoul said earlier in the day that South Korea plans to reiterate to the Chinese delegation its opposition to the rocket launch.

• Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone will meet Wednesday [25 March] to decide what steps the Japanese government will take in the event North Korea were to test launch a ballistic missile, ruling party lawmakers said Tuesday. Kawamura unveiled the plan for the talks among the three Cabinet members at a meeting Tuesday of a panel of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party for discussing measures to deal with the North Korean missile issue, according to the lawmakers in attendance.

• The European Union has given a cautious warning to North Korea that it’s planned rocket launch in early April "would be seen" as a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution, the Czech Republic said Tuesday. The message was delivered during a trip to Pyongyang by an EU Troika delegation earlier this week that met with the North's Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun, according to the country that holds the rotating EU presidency.

• North Korea is likely to push for its second nuclear test if it does not get a satisfactory response from the U.S. on its upcoming rocket launch, a visiting U.S. expert said Thursday [26 March], following reports that the reclusive nation has already mounted a rocket on a launch pad in its northeast coastal base. Art Brown, head of the Washington-based consulting firm Midsight, also said the North's rocket launch due in early April will provide South Korea with a chance to take the driver's seat in dealing with the communist neighbor. "If they don't like the response, they may do a second nuclear test just to shake up the United States," the former CIA official said in an interview. He served as chief of the CIA's local branch from 1996-1999.

• South Korea plans to dispatch an advanced destroyer to the East Sea [Sea of Japan] as North Korea finalizes steps to launch a rocket despite international warnings, officials said Thursday [26 March]. "The Sejong the Great destroyer will conduct monitoring activities in the East Sea," an official said, referring to the 7,600-tonne vessel that detects and tracks targets hundreds of kilometers away. Four U.S. and Japanese destroyers patrol the waters after North Korea said earlier this month that it would launch a communications satellite between April 4-8. Neighbors say the communist state could in fact be readying to test-fire a ballistic missile that can theoretically hit Alaska.

• Ahead of North Korea's planned satellite launch next month, the government has revealed its missile defense plan should the rocket fall within Japanese territory. From Friday [27 March], Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada will be able to order a missile intercept without consultation or official announcement for a limited period under article 82 of the Self-Defense Forces Law, it was decided Wednesday. Following an intercept order, SM-3 missiles carried by two Aegis destroyers in the Sea of Japan, and PAC-3 surface-to-air missiles in Iwate and Akita prefectures will be deployed. If an intercept is ordered, it will be the first actual use of Japan's missile defense system since it was introduced in 2003. Under the SDF Law article, the order will not need to be announced in advance.

• North Korea has likely sent two U.S. journalists who were detained in a border region last week to Pyongyang for questioning, sources here said Sunday [22 March]. A day earlier, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirmed two U.S. female journalists were detained by border guards March 17 for allegedly "illegally intruding the territory of the DPRK (North Korea) by crossing the DPRK-China border.” The KCNA also said in the two-sentence report that "a competent organ is now investigating the case." "Considering the gravity of the issue, it is very likely the two U.S. female journalists have been transferred to Pyongyang," one of the sources told Yonhap.

• The United States is still negotiating for the release of two American journalists held in North Korea, the State Department said Friday [20 March]. Spokesman Robert Wood, however, would not elaborate, citing the sensitivity of the issue involving North Korea, with which the U.S. has no diplomatic ties amid rancor over denuclearization talks and threats of a missile launch. "What I can tell you is that we are working diplomatically to try to resolve this issue," Wood said. "Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton is engaged on this matter right now. Our view, given the circumstances, is that the less we say about this publicly, the better for those parties concerned. It's a sensitive matter right now and I just for right now would like to leave it there."

• North Korea's confirmation of the detention of two U.S. journalists last Saturday [21 March] has triggered speculation that the early confirmation may lead to the early release of the detainees. The North confirmed reports that its military is detaining the journalists who allegedly sneaked into its territory illegally, the Ministry of Unification said, Monday. The confirmation came four days after the detention of Chinese American Laura Ling and Korean American Euna Lee. The ministry said it is also keeping a close watch on the situation since the North reported the issue earlier than expected. ``Two Americans were detained on March 17 while illegally intruding into North Korea's territory by crossing the border. A competent organ is now investigating the case,'' the North's official Korean Central News Agency said without providing any more details.

• When their capture first became known, the journalists were said to be on a trip to report on the plight of North Korean refugees, and their reports on the refugees or footage of North Korean territory could work against them. The South Korean intelligence community believes the charges against the journalists will likely be espionage because they crossed the border. It’s a felony that could result in a minimum of 20 years in prison in North Korea. One source said, “The North will film all of its questioning of the journalists and will prepare for negotiations with the United States.”

• The United States Tuesday [24 March] denied the report that two American journalists detained in North Korea are being investigated for alleged espionage. "We are in touch with the DPRK through various channels, and the only statement that the DPRK has made to us says only that the DPRK believes that the two journalists crossed the DPRK border illegally," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement. The detention of the journalists came at a time when tensions have mounted on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea's announcement to launch a rocket in early April to orbit a satellite, which the U.S. sees as a cover for a ballistic missile launch.

• Two American journalists being held by North Korea may have been led across the border from China by a guide promising them exclusive footage of human trafficking or drug deals, an activist who helped organize their trip said Wednesday [25 March]. The guide and a third American, cameraman Mitch Koss, reportedly escaped arrest last week but were detained by Chinese border guards. Koss has left the country, China's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. His whereabouts Wednesday were unclear. The reporters' detentions come at a sensitive time, with Pyongyang planning to fire a satellite into space in early April. Regional powers fear the claim is a cover for the launch of a long-range missile capable of reaching Alaska, and U.S. officials on Wednesday confirmed that North Korea is loading a Taepodong rocket on its east coast launch pad.

• The European Union (EU) and an international group of journalists forged a deal on Tuesday to provide 400 million won (US$290,000) to help anti-Pyongyang radio broadcasting stations run mostly by defectors from North Korea. The EU and the Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF) signed the deal with three stations -- Free North Korea Radio, Open Radio for Korea and Radio Free Chosun -- in Seoul to fund their programs for the next three years.

• North Korea allowed South Koreans to visit a joint industrial complex on Monday [23 March] after normalizing border traffic over the weekend following the conclusion of a U.S.-South Korean military exercise, Seoul officials said. North Korea had severed the only remaining official phone and fax channel with South Korea and sealed their shared border three times during the March 9-20 joint drill, which it views as a rehearsal for invasion. The measures were withdrawn on Saturday, a day after the joint drill ended. The North Korean military in charge of border crossing sent a letter of approval by the restored inter-Korean fax channel shortly after 8 a.m., officials of the Unification Ministry said. About 640 South Korean workers and managers are scheduled to visit the joint industrial complex in North Korea's border town of Kaesong, and 216 people are to return, they said.

• Hyundai Asan, the South Korean tour operator of Mount Geumgang resort in North Korea, said more than 30,000 tourists have reserved tickets for the tour since the company began selling reservation tickets on Feb. 13.

• North Korea on Saturday [21 March] restored severed military communication channel and reopened the border for South Koreans visiting a joint industrial complex, following the conclusion of a U.S.-South Korean military exercise. "The military communication channel was restored," Unification Ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo said.

• The Ministry of Unification will open centers to help North Korean defectors adapt themselves to new circumstances in South Korea, Friday, a ministry spokesperson said, Monday [23 March]. ``Many people have raised the issue that North Koreans who completed Hanawon programs have difficulty in adaptation,'' the spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo told reporters.

• North Korean defectors working in South Korea earn less than a third of the average monthly income of their South Korean counterparts, according to a government survey released Tuesday [24 March]. According to the survey of 361 North Korean defectors working in the South, the newcomers earned an average of 937,000 won (US$680) per person a month. The average South Korean employee earned 2.9 million won a month in the third quarter of last year, according to the latest data available from the Korea National Statistical Office.

• North Korea has intensified quarantine efforts "more than ever" to prevent a possible bird flu outbreak and will closely work with the United Nations, its media said Wednesday [25 March]. North Korea acknowledged a bird flu outbreak at a major chicken farm in Pyongyang in March 2005 and accepted international aid. Since then, not a single case of the infectious disease has been detected, Pyongyang officials have asserted.

• On the 23d, China's Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei disclosed in Beijing that China and the United States have already arranged to have the first meeting between Hu Jintao and [Barack] Obama before the London financial summit. With regard to whether or not Hu Jintao and Obama will discuss security issues and the Iranian and North Korean nuclear problems, He Yafei stated that, during the meeting, the heads of state of China and the United States will exchange opinions on Sino-US relations and how to respond to the current international financial crisis, as well as other international and regional issues of concern to both sides. [He] estimated that mention would be made of the Iranian and North Korean nuclear problems.

• Chinese President Hu Jintao will hold his first talks with U.S. President Barack Obama and also meet bilaterally with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso when he visits London for a financial summit, a Chinese diplomat said Monday [23 March]. At a press briefing, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said Hu will also hold bilateral talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak on the sidelines of the multilateral meeting on April 2.

• South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will hold his first one-on-one summit with U.S. President Barack Obama in London on April 2 on the sidelines of the Group of 20 financial summit, a diplomatic source said Tuesday. "The two sides agreed to hold the meeting shortly before the opening of the G-20 summit on April 2," the source said, requesting anonymity. "The U.S. is expected to hold bilateral summits there with South Korea and only a few other nations."

• Leftwing activists have been protesting in front of the Foreign Ministry building since Friday [20 March], when Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said North Korea's missile launch would prompt South Korea to consider signing up fully to the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative. Former president Kim Tae-chung on Monday said South Korea's participation in the PSI would require it to search ships carrying strategic goods and that North Korea would oppose it. He added if a gun battle ensues, it could escalate into a naval battle, and if coastal batteries take part in the clash, the situation could escalate into a war. The left is trying to turn the PSI issue into an ideological confrontation. The issue of taking part in part in the PSI should not be turned into an ideological dispute but decided after strategic thinking about the pluses and minuses for South Korea, considering the future of inter-Korean relations, the South Korea-U.S. alliance and international cooperation in diplomacy and security.

• President Obama's first State of the Union address had no mention of North Korea, and nothing about its nuclear and missile programs. Obama's silence, whether calculated or not, must have caused significant disappointment to North Korean leaders, who were prepared to enter into direct talks with the United States, using the North's weapons of mass destruction as the ultimate bargaining chip for its survival strategy. We do not know if President Obama is considering making his next peace overture to North Koreans. Such a possibility seems blocked at the moment by Pyongyang's plan to launch a long-range rocket in early April. But, if Obama does reach out toward the North, Kim's response will be much more spontaneous than what Iranian leaders initially showed. We suspect that the North Korean leader might by now regret the rocket launch schedule.