The DPRK

• Apparently, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has ruled out eliminating his nuclear weapons program, although he seems perfectly willing to freeze it -- for a price. With this is mind, one wonders if Wednesday's six-party working group talks in Beijing are going to go anywhere.
• Previous to this, Tim Blair and his commentors seemed to have a grand old time with suggestions that North Korea might go Libya's way. Kevin at Incestuous Amplifications rips this to shreds.
• Of course, the above all started with a must-read interview conducted by NKzone's Rebecca MacKinnon with N.K. scholar Selig Harrison. I don't particularly agree with Harrison's take on things -- and neither does the WSJ, apparently -- but you're highly encouraged to read what he has to say in full. The Infidel adds some of his own thoughts.
• On April 22, a train explosion ripped apart much of the North Korean industrial town on Ryongchon, near the Sino-Korean border. For the BEST coverage of this tragedy ANYWHERE, check out NKzone's disaster archive. You could spend all day going through all her stuff. On other blogs, the Oranckay felt the disaster could be a landmark event in intra-Korean relations, while Brian of Cathartidae, Kevin of IA, and myself express absolute exasperation with South Korea's response to the Ryongchon tragedy. The Infidel also had quite a bit to say on the Ryongchon disaster -- here's just some of it.
• Oh, Kim Jong-il paid Beijing a surprise visit. This was pretty big news until much of Ryongchon got wiped off the map just hours after Kim's train passed through on its way back to Pyongyang. Well, at least we got this photo out of the trip.
• One Korean commentator reported that Chinese President Hu Jintao was delivered an offer he couldn't refuse by White House Godfather Dick Cheney himself.
• Oh, the North Koreans are apparently building new missile bases.
• How about a little investing in unification?
• April 29 was North Korea Freedom Day -- NKzone discusses it, as does the Flying Yangban. BTW, it appears that not everyone is happy with the North Korea Human Rights Act.
• As always, those with an interest in North Korean human rights should visit Free North Korea!

THE ROK

• The April 15 general elections yielded a major victory for the center-left Uri Party, although the conservative GNP did manage to come out of the elections alive. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the way regionalism works in South Korean elections, check this map out. Steve of Empty Bottle has a terrific post on the election results you're all encouraged to read.
• The Flying Yangban has been doing some outstanding work analyzing South Korean politics -- trust me, that's no mean achievement. Here, he discusses the winners and losers of the general election, here he talks about Korea's move to a new three-party system and here, some of the interesting internal developments within the Uri Party itself.
• Josh Marshall felt the Uri Party won because of its opposition to Bush. I didn't. Kevin at Incestuous Amplification felt we were both off.
• The Korean online news site OhMyNews has been getting some big blogger attention. And it goes without saying that the first English-language blog your should reference for you Korean media analysis is Weblog@Oranckay.
• On April 6, South Korea mobilized five warships, two aircraft, five rubber dinghies and 15 commandos to the Sea of Japan (East Sea) to face down a grave threat to South Korea's territorial integrity. Woojay the Pythi Master disagrees with my assessment of Seoul's behavior.

US-ROK Issues

• Well, the Korean deployment of troops to Iraq has been delayed again. Of course, since the Uri Party's victory in the general election, there has been talk of reviewing Korea's decision to send troops all together.
• Regardless of whether Korea honors its commitment to provide troops, Rumsfeld has hinted that USFK units might be sent to Iraq.
• Korea's left-wing daily the Hankyoreh Shinmun has been having a grand old time bashing the United States over the Iraqi POW issue, having run not one, not two, not three, but four editorial cartoons on the issue, every one of them brought to you by Mike of Seeing Eye Blog. He also takes time to fisk a Hankyoreh editorial on the POW abuse issue.
• More fallout from the Uri Party general election victory -- it appears that 63 percent of Uri Party lawmakers feel the China, not the United States, should be South Korea's most important diplomatic partner. Related to this, I wrote an essay on South Korea's alternatives to its traditional alliance with the United States, and Budaechigae links to a very interesting Korean view on the future of the US-ROK alliance. Oh, Ralph Cossa also talks about the implications of the Uri Party victory in the Korea Times.
• Budaechigae reports on the closing of the controversial U.S. bombing range at Maehang-ni, and points out that sound polution may be the wave of the future for South Korean anti-American civic groups. Oh, and before I forget, the North Koreans are apparently unhappy about the U.S. turning over responsibility for Panmunjom over to the South Koreans. Pitty.

RANDOM STUFF

• Jeff in Pusan took some truly remarkable photographs of May 5's full lunar eclipse in that city. His blog is full of great commentary on life in South Korea, and you'd be doing youself a favor by reading through it.
• For those interested in Korean sociology, make sure you check out Antti's Hunjangui karuch'im. Along with the Oranckay and Kirk Larsen, Antti is one of the most knowledgeable people about Korea in the English-language Korea blogosphere. All three are scholars who know their stuff.
• Kevin of Incestuous Amplifications rants about Korean sports writing, and gives us an extra-special rant about the middle-aged Korean women who go through his groceries at the supermarket.
• Then there's the Big Hominid. The theologically-minded may wish to start with this post.
• For great commentary about and photographs of life in Korea, the blogs to check out are Korea Life Blog and About Joel. Korean food fans are directed here.
• And then for something completely different...