What does the DPRK want from Japan? Could it be food aid? Recently the DPRK requested aid from the EU and Mongolia. I do not believe these requests were received favorably. And what does the DPRK have to offer Japan. What Japan wants is more important than what the DPRK wants. The prospects for reopening the Kaesong complex have improved. Without Kaesong there is no way it can attract the foreign investment for its new economic policy. We don't know what terms ROK will accept. Why would the ROK want to reopen Kaesong under the same terms it had before? Again what the ROK wants is more important than what the DPRK wants.

Thank you for your comments. I also want to write that the ROK is now moving against DPRK front organizations in the ROK. Considering that the DPRK has renounced the armistice with the ROK and is in a state of war, I think the ROK should act with dispatch and move against these organizations, and imprison the members as domestic enemies.

Back in July 2012 press reports said that dozens of North Korean soldiers were killed in a fierce gun battle following removal of army chief Ri Yong-ho. That's how people get replaced in the DPRK. Japan-DPRK Press reports say that Isao Iijima an aid to Prime Minister Abe made a visit to the DPRK. No reason for the trip has been announced.

When the USA listed North Korean Foreign Trade Bank as the node by which the DPRK finances its nuclear and missile programs and imposed sanctions against it, it gave the PRC a choice: Do business with the USA or do business with the DPRK. The PRC would rather do business with the USA. The DPRK has set about to repair its relations with the PRC--by securings its boarder to prevent refugees from streaming over the boarder into the PRC. The PRC doesn't want refugees, and the DPRK has taken steps to prevent refugees.

Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift.

Stop looking at the smoke--start looking at the fire.

The ROK's President, Park Geun-hye, is in the USA on a five day mission, leading a fifty member delegation, and with stops in New York and Los Angeles, as well as Washington DC. You can tell how successful the mission has been by the carping and perverse criticism from the DPRK. The Wall Street Journal reports that Pyongyang "ridiculed Ms. Park as “a bride dumped by her husband on a wedding day.”"

Things aren't going well for the DPRK. If wanting to be a laughing stock were its intention, then it has succeeded splendidly. Otherwise, the last few months have been a complete failure. Meanwhile it is a golden age in the ROK. For the citizens of the ROK life has never been better. That's not to say that life is perfect in the ROK, and that significant problems (corruption etc) don't exist there. But the ROK is confronting these problems and looking for solutions.

President Park's reputation has increased here and abroad because of her skillful handling of the provocations of the last three months. Let's go to the scoreboard: DPRK Atomic bomb tests-none. DPRK Missile launches--none. DPRK Hostages at Kaesong--None. DPRK sabotage--none. Humanitarian Aid from the ROK to the DPRK--not for the foreseeable future. The European Union and Mongolia have turned down the DPRK's request for food aid. It's not often that I am envious of another nation's leader, but I'd like to have a President who knows how to do things like President Park.

Press reports are saying that the PRC has notified the DPRK that its Foreign Trade Bank has been cut off from fund transfers and the accounts closed. Reuters is also reporting that the DPRK missiles have been moved away from their launch site and probably put back into mothballs. Shucks, I was looking forward to the ROK, Japan or the USA shooting down those missiles. The DPRK allowed the final seven employees of the Kaesong Complex to return to the ROK. There is no hostage situation. It's amateur night in Pyongyang. And its humiliation will continue. Meanwhile President Park Park Geun Hye of the ROK is in the USA and will meet with the President. President Park's reputation has increased here and abroad.

If democrats were really want this legislation they would put up a 13 trillion dollar bond to pay for the expense.