Kim Jong-Il invited to visit South Korea by President-elect Roh Moo-hyun

Yonhap News Agency ^ | January 30, 2003

[HAL9000]

Roh MH Says, He Asks N.K. Leader Kim JI to Visit Seoul

   Seoul, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- President-elect Roh Moo-hyun said Thursday that he had asked North Korea's National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il to visit Seoul in his personal letter recently sent to him.

   "I also expressed hope to meet him in any other place if it is difficult for Chairman Kim to visit Seoul because of political reasons," Roh said in an interview with Japan's NHK-TV in the morning.

[Joe 6-pack]

kji already has all the comforts of the south. If the ROK President elect was serious about improving the lot of dprk/ROK relations, he wouldn't invite kji, he'd open the borders to the common nKorean.

[weikel]

They are open the problem is you have to escape from North Korea and then if you do the N Korean government kills your family.

[LenS]

And if those North Koreans can sneak past a million or so soldiers and border guards of the NKPA as well as their minefields.

[Joe 6-pack]

"They are open the problem is you have to escape from North Korea and then if you do the N Korean government kills your family."

And if those North Koreans can sneak past a million or so soldiers and border guards of the NKPA as well as their minefields.

Thanks for your insights. How many years have you guys spent in the ROK? How many defectors have you interviewed?

[lavaroise]

Is he going to pay $200 milion bucks for that nobel prize too?

[AmericanInTokyo]

Kim Jong il already has reneged on his part of the 'deal' with the naive (outgoing president) S. Korean Kim Dae Jung. Communist Kim was to return the favor and visit Seoul years ago, after S. Korea's Kim went to the north for several days.

There are two profound reasons Kim Jong-il will NOT make the trip southward to Seoul. And they both are not outside the realm of possibility.

A) He fears assassination in the South by South Koreans or by US intelligence agency teams (considering all the South Koreans HE has assassinated or attempted to kill or has kidnapped).

B) He fears a coup d'etat by rivals and dispondent groups in the KPA military structure, back in Pyongyang, the moment he steps into ROK territory.

IMHO, he will never make the trip. At best, they will meet at the neutral JSA area in Panmunjom at the long table right on the border, whereby Communist Kim can return safely and quickly to the DPRK side if things were to destabilize.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #7

(C) Kim Jong-Il has no control over the stage management of events in S. Korea. He does not want to have a press conference where hostile question can be asked and he could lose his temper. Back in his country, nobody talks back to him. In S. Korea, it can happen. Many other potential mishaps could arise, which could turn out to be really embarrassing.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yep. Forgot that one. (C) is a possibility for sure.

[Spruce]

Forgive my "Crude" question. But if we shot 1 Minuteman into NK's bomb-plant, who would cry?
I would, if I was a world leader refuse to acknowledge KIJ as nothing but poo on the bottom of my shoe.

[TigerLikesRooster]

RE #9

There are these young spoiled ones in S. Korea, enamored with pop music and soap opera. They have really a narrow range of perception. They may think that hounding Kim Jong-Il for his nukes is unfair because he appeared to be well-meaning on TV surrounded by those cute N. Korean chicks. Now if this nice guy displays mean face to reporters or other folks and the S. Korean TV camerca caught it, he will instantly become "a mean old man", which is worse than being a Stalinist tyrant with nukes to threathen everybody.:)

[HAL9000]

There could be some unwanted side effects with the Minuteman shot - like spreading radioactivity.

I was wondering about using an electromagnetic pulse weapon over the reprocessing plant. We may be able to try EMP in a few weeks in Iraq.

[LenS]

I spent just a standard one year tour with the 2nd I.D. with the usual Infantry rotation to the DMZ. So while I didn't see any defectors, I did see just how difficult a border it would be for any North Korean civilian to get through if they wanted to go south. That's why refugees almost always sneak out by crossing the Yalu into Manchuria.