Tuesday, May 19, 2009

No More Mr. Nice Guy

The North Koreans have rather emphatically signalled the end of their policy of reaching out (such as it was) to South Korea:

North Korea executed its pointman on South Korea last year, holding him responsible for wrong predictions about Seoul's new conservative government that has ditched a decade of engagement policy toward Pyongyang, sources said Monday.

Choe Sung-chol, who as vice chairman of the North's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee had pushed for bold reconciliation with Seoul's previous liberal governments, disappeared from public sight early last year amid reports that he was fired.


That's fine. I'd rather squeeze the North Koreans and contain them until they implode.