Kim visits China

I no sooner posted my review of Nothing to Envy than I came across this report from Reuters correspondent Roystan Chan.

Mr. Chan says that Kim Jong-il, the "reclusive leader" of the "hermit state" (North Korea) has just started a state visit to Dalian, a major city in the northeast of China. It is unusual for Mr. Kim to leave his country and one can only guess at his reasons for doing so.

Seems to me it's not unlike a resident of Richmond B.C. going down to Bellingham for a little shopping. Mr. Chan opines that Kim is "in search of economic support and diplomatic protection from his only major ally, after bungled policies at home and military grandstanding that has exasperated the region."

Kim will doubtless get some help from the Chinese, even it comes with strings attached. The Chinese communists are deathly afraid that a revolt by the famished people of North Korea could give their own people "wrong ideas". They also worry about being swamped by millions of refugees in the event of an uprising or a worsening of the already shocking economic situation of the Korean masses.

When we're not thinking of our own domestic problems, we tend to focus on the Middle East. Walt says: look farther east... farther... If serious trouble breaks out in the Korean peninsula, what will the American and other western governments do? Do we have any kind of contingency plan? Just asking.