[TigerLikesRooster]

Dubya has been hitting Kim Jong-Il hard.

According to local KBS evening News, Mr. Kil Jae-Kyung manages Kim Jong-Il's slush funds and is in charge of running N. Korea's drug smuggling operations.

According to a S. Korean daily, the German human right activist Norbert Vollertsen also disclosed in an interview with VOA that their group want to operate a passenger ship in an international waters so that they can receive N. Korean refugees escaping by sea.

A lot of action going on quietly in recent days. A part of the non-military solution to N. Korean nuke crisis.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[sam_paine]

Dubya has been hitting Kim Jong-Il hard.

That's not true. The news is full of headlines about Democratic exhortations that W has been ignoring Korea in favor of Iraq, or something.

It said so. In papers and stuff. Really.

[Carry_Okie]

Many thanks. Fine work.

One wonders if some are defecting because they want to live.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

This is one way I didn't expect us to take Kim out. I knew he was different problem than Iraq and needed a different solution but I thought it would be an economic solution (tipping there economy the rest of the way over on it's side).

This is definitely being promoted by our intel. services.

Sort of a reverse of their old negotiating ploy. Every day Kim comes to the table and looks up to see one less person sitting there with him.

[Maigret]

Thanks for an important post.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I will be in the North/South Korean DMZ on 31 May or so. Expecting a JSA tour and debrief at that time. I'll hope to post a short report on FR about it.

Looks like the guy that they got out that came over the fence has the locations of many of the deep bunkers. Dictator Kim Jong il (AKA "Yo Chia Head the Short-Donged One") is going to have a hard time hiding our and going deep to avoid US Bunker Busters, FAEs and MOABs.

There is a definite destabilization project underway, too. Good observations.

[Just mythoughts]

Maybe this is why bjclinton hasn't been promoting N. Korea lately.

For a while there he was their pitch man saying all they wanted was "RESPECT".

[Dixie Mom]

Did you read the report in the Australian press last month about a covert mission to facilitate the defection of N. Korean scientists and military leaders?  It was reported to be a plan code-named, "Operation Weasel" When it was reported, it was strongly denied by everyone involved, but this story makes it sound like it is for real and ongoing.

[Mister Baredog]

"Recently defections of N. Korean high-ranking figures are suddenly on the rise.

Sounds like the PLAN is working, "THE AXIS OF EVIL" may just turn out to be words that end up changing the world more than ANYONE might have thought, STRATEGERY at its best.

[Teacher317]

Thank you for the translator work! It's great to know that we're getting more niformation than CNNABCNBCCBS would ever possibly give!

[Grampa Dave]

It would look like that Kil Jae-Gyung is not very afraid of the terrible long range missiles and all of those nuclear bombs on them, aimed for America that Chia Heads is bragging about.!

[FairOpinion]

Great Info! Thanks.

It's interesting it's not in the headline news.

After reading your translation, I searched Google news and found a couple of articles, one from the Washington Times, but it's not on the TV news or major news outlets. But when high level people are defecting from a regime, you know the end is near.

Here is the Washington Times article, giving more detail:

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20030517-072527-8064r.htm

N. Korean aide reportedly defects to U.S.


By Jong-Heon Lee
UPI Correspondent


SEOUL, South Korea, May 17 (UPI) -- A high-level North Korean official engaged in raising secret funds for reclusive leader Kim Jong Il is hiding in the United States after requesting political asylum there, South Korean media reports said Saturday.

Kil Jae Gyong, 69, vice director of Kim's secretariat, sought asylum to avoid punishment for a failed drug trafficking attempt, South Korea's official Yonhap News Agency said, citing an unidentified diplomatic source in Seoul.

"Kil and two of his assistants have recently asked Washington to allow them political asylum and they are in a safehouse in the United States or a place controlled by the United States," the source was quoted as saying.

South Korean officials said they were contacting the U.S. government to confirm the defection, but would not elaborate.

Analysts here said Kil's defection and the information he may reveal could trigger tough U.S. measures to crack down on North Korea's narcotics trafficking, which earns hard currency for the communist regime. Kil, one of Kim's closest aides, is expected to give U.S. intelligence officials an unprecedented insight into the channels of North Korea's drug smuggling and counterfeiting of U.S. currency.

Kil has been involved in raising secret funds for Kim since the early 1990s, mainly through drug smuggling and making fake U.S. dollars, intelligence officials said. In 1976, as ambassador to Sweden, Kil was expelled on suspicion of drug trafficking. He was expelled from Russia in 1998 when he was caught trying to use counterfeit U.S. notes with a face value of $30,000.

Diplomatic sources said he decided to defect to the United States out of fear he would be punished for a failed drug trafficking attempt in Australia. A North Korean cargo ship with its crew of 26 have been held in Australia since April 20 on charges of smuggling 110 pounds of pure heroin worth $46 million.

The Australian government has said an official of the North Korean regime had been aboard the state-run freighter, Pong Su. It was not immediately clear whether the official was Kil, but diplomatic sources said he had masterminded the drug trafficking attempt.

Kil's defection came amid media reports that Kyong Won Ha, who has been described as the father of North Korea's nuclear program, has recently defected to the United States. Up to 20 North Korean nuclear scientists and military officers have also reportedly sought asylum.

A 45-year-old son of Yom Ki Su, a high-level official of the North's ruling Workers' Party in charge of personnel administration, also recently defected during an official trip to a third country, Yonhap said.

[CyberAnt]

All these defections can explain why Bush and Powell are so cool about N.K.

[Houmatt]

Does Kim Jong Il himself have any personal comments about this?

[green team 1999]

good info,thanks, W must be doing something right,but we are not going to find out until later

[snippy_about_it]

saving bump