MIND-BLOWING DEMOGRAPHIC STAT FOR THE DAY

China's migrant population is 211 million. That's 2/3 of the entire U.S. population.

The migrant population has an average monthly income of around 1,900 yuan and most of them are engaged in high-risk industries, the report shows. They can not fully enjoy social security and public services.

The social and economic implications of this are astounding!

CHEONAN SINKING NOT TERRORISM

So says the Obama administration.

Obama administration officials say they will closely monitor North Korean activity for signs of a return to international terrorism. But they say they consider the sinking of the South Korean warship the Cheonan to have been a military-against-military operation and not an act of terrorism

.I agree. One doesn't have to condone the sinking of the ship to conclude that a military attack even if covertly done is not quite the same as "terrorism." The DPRK regime has done any number of objectionable things of late, but the last act that clearly falls within a conventional definition of terrorism was the 1987 KAL bombing (an event that always gives one an excuse to invoke the story of Kim Hyôn-hûi, the North Korean "Jane Bond" who is thought to have carried out the attack (photo below).



Anyway, to call the sinking of the Cheonan "terrorism" robs the latter of any real meaning above and beyond the idea of "doing something bad that we don't like."

6.25; 육이오; 六二五

No matter what you call it, 6.25 (as in June 25th) marks the anniversary of the full-scale beginning of a terrible, devastating war.

The Korean peninsular has been fortunate that--border raids, bombings and naval clashes notwithstanding--it has experienced nearly six decades of peace following the Korean War. We can only hope that this trend continues in the future.

Some interesting (color) pictures of the Korean War here.

SLOW NEWS DAY?

The title of this award-winning journalism? Kim Jong-il inspects radish at army camp.

UPDATE: Of course this could all be part of a DPRK domestic disinformation campaign aimed at Kim Jong-il himself.

Radishes and eggs: I'm getting hungry.

MEET NORTH KOREA'S MOST PASSIONATE (FOREIGN) FAN

Bryan Clark, a 58-year-old logistics company manager from Portsmouth, England.

Over the last four years, the 58-year-old Clark has travelled around the globe to watch North Korea play their World Cup qualifiers — even taking in games in Pyongyang during a organised tour.

"I was present when the Chollimas qualified for the World Cup following their draw with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh," said Clark, who is British.

"I was the only North Korean fan in the ground and was surrounded by 65,000 Saudi supporters as I waved my DPRK flag and cheered."

I wonder what Mr, Clark thought of today's lopsided match with Portugal?

UPDATE: Mr. Clark has got to be better than the Chinese "volunteers," allegedly imported to cheer for the DPRK. At least he comes by his support for the DPRK honestly.

UPDATE II: It turns out that the North Koreans aren't the only ones who hire foreigners to make appearances.

HUNGRY?

Intrigued by the "baby riots" of 1888 (anti-foreign demonstrations in Seoul motivated by rumors that foreigners were stealing and eating Korean babies), I have had an abiding interest in cannibalism and especially stories, rumors, urban legends about such.

Therefore, I couldn't help but be intrigued when the following version of the "Nigerian e-mail hoax" crossed my in-box:

my name is Mr James i am a black American based in Nigeria i have been a cannibal gent for the past 4 years i transport blacks from Africa to every country with assurance i have so many people who are tired of life so all i have to do is just for me to advise them to be cannibalized and they always agree all so all you have to do is just for you to send there money for visa which is very little and all you jut have to do is just wait and receive them with honor

"receive them with honor"???? Wow.

TWO RATHER DIFFERENT VIEWS ON THE CHEONAN

One, written by Christopher Hitchens, argues that if any regime deserves the appellation "evil, it is North Korea.

So this is the way we live now: conditioned by the awareness that no North Korean provocation, however egregious, can be confronted, lest it furnish the occasion or pretext for something truly barbarous and insane.

The other, written by a previously-unknown-to-me Stephen Gowans, argues that the real culprit is to be found south of the 38th parallel.

Lee is a North Korea-phobe who prefers a confrontational stance toward his neighbor to the north to the policy of peaceful coexistence and growing cooperation favored by his recent predecessors (and by Pyongyang, as well. It’s worth mentioning that North Korea supports a policy of peace and cooperation. South Korea, under its hawkish president, does not.) Fabricating a case against the North serves Lee in a number of ways. If voters in the South can be persuaded that the North is indeed a menace – and it looks like this is exactly what is happening – Lee’s hawkish policies will be embraced as the right ones for present circumstances. This will prove immeasurably helpful in upcoming mayoral and gubernatorial elections in June.

As noted previously, I don't put much stock in conspiracy theories. I would also have a hard time reconciling the images below (urging the North Korean people to become "human bombs" and threatening to "eliminate America from the earth") as any more consistent with a "policy of peace and cooperation" than are Lee Myung-bak's recent declarations.