What Does Kim Jong Il Do in December?

Kim's public appearances by year for the month of December (2007 runs through Dec. 19)


North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has paid 8 visits to military units this December (up through December 19), and on nearly all occasion Kim was accompanied by KPA Generals Hyon Chol Hae and Ri Myong Su, who are frequently seen on Kim’s inspection trips.

The eight visits to military units thus far puts Kim on track to make this a banner December for military inspections. From 1998 through 2002, Kim usually inspected three military units in December. From 2003 to the present, he has shifted to an average of eight unit inspections in December, and he is set to exceed that number this year. Overall Kim has paid 29 inspection visits to military units this year.

In terms of other guidance or "appreciation" or artistic performances, Kim was particularly active in economic guidance in December 2005 (six visits) and 2000 (four visits). He has made no economic visits this December (barring a visit to a military-run cotton production unit on December 6). In 2001 and 2002, Kim met with Russian officials in December, but aside from that, his diplomatic calendar is usually quiet at the end of the year.

ROK - Evolving Elections

South Korea's opposition Grand National Party (GNP) candidate Lee Myung Bak appears set to clinch the presidency, with most exit polls giving him just over 50 percent of the vote. Lee's victory is less one of "conservatives" over "liberals," though, that a combination of factors ranging from the moderation of political extremes by the main parties, a maturing of Korea's democratic process and a shift to a more internal-focused campaign, rather than one driven by foreign relations and highly charged nationalism.

For a year or so, both the GNP and the pro-government parties (whatever their chosen name at any given moment) have been sliding to the center, a pattern being seen in the lead up to Taiwan’s elections and even seen in Japanese politics recently. In Korea, the move is part of the maturing of the democratic process. Kim Dae Jung won the election in 1997 in what was largely a rejectionist vote against the old-guard forces in Korea. Roh Moo Hyun pulled off his victory riding a surge in Korean nationalism manifest as anti-Americanism. Neither of these played well this year. (It was barely even mentioned that Lee wasn't even born in South Korea)

Some of Lee's support was certainly a rejection of what many see as a decade of mismanagement or missed opportunities by the "liberal" political leadership (even if Kim Dae Jung pulled the country rapidly out of the Asian economic crisis). But there was also a look to internal economic and social policies, and Lee apparently had the most clearly defined (even if they include a canal).

The near lack of foreign policy, and particularly of disagreements over relations with the United States, is also telling of a shift in South Korean thinking. The generation that cheered Kim Dae Jung's victory and brought Roh Moo Hyun to power is maturing, and recognizes that South Korea cannot just go it alone, that Seoul needs to manage its relationship with Washington, not just insist on going its own way. While there is no desire to become a puppet of the United States, there I a need to avoid being abandoned by Washington, both for security and economic reasons.

On a side note, Koreans are also getting a bit bored with elections, relatively peaking. Voter turnout this time was 62.9 percent, according to the National Election Commission, down from 70.8 percent in 2002 and 80.7 percent in 1997. Democracy is settling in, and so is apathy and ennui. Ah, the freedom not to choose...

Text of Bush Letter to Kim

The text of Bush's letter to Kim Jong Il has been leaked. Apparently, the cleaning staff for the Oval Office pulled this draft from the executive waste paper basket, unwrinkled it, and has released it to select outlets (those who were willing to buy said cleaning staff a burger). So here is the letter, though this may not be quite the same text as the final copy delivered by Hill.

Dear Mr. Kim,

I have struggled with this letter, not so much because I don't know what I want to say to you, but because I couldn't figure out how to address it. Should I call you Mr. Kim? Chairman Kim? Comrade General Kim? Dear Leader? I couldn't see addressing the letter to "Dear Dear Leader" though – too redundant.

So what is it I want to say to you? Well, what I want to say I have been told is not acceptable to be written down, because then it would end up in the archives for all eternity, so those comments I will save for my diary and memoirs.

Instead, I would like to invite you to trade in your membership in the Axis of Evil (AoE) for a new membership in the Club of Formerly Evil but now on the Mend, or COFEBNOTM for short. If you will give up your evil ways, I will stop calling you evil. You stop making nucular bombs, I stop blocking all your bank accounts. You give me your old nuclear bombs (and no, I don't mean give them to me on the end of a missile flying over the Pacific), I offer you the privilege of being recognized by me (meaning I won't ignore you when you wave at me while passing each other in the mall).

In short (and no, that wasn't a pun on your stature, though now that I think of it, that would be funny), I am nearing the end of my presidency, and all the countries I didn't get to bomb I am offering a chance to act like Libya and give up all your self respect, wear a dress and eye shadow, and beg people to take your natural resources. If not, I still hold the nuke-'em suitcase until 2009.

Yours,

G.W.B.