IS THAT A THREAT OR A PROMISE?:

Any Japan Economic Penalties Mean 'War,' N. Korea Says (Bruce Wallace, December 16, 2004, LA Times)

North Korea's dictatorship lashed out at the Japanese government Wednesday with a warning that any move to impose economic sanctions on Pyongyang would be seen as a "declaration of war."

It would help greatly if the North declared war first and gave us the pretext for regime change.

MORE (via Jim Yates):
Top general's son defected to U.S. base in Japan, then disappeared (World Tribune.com, December 15, 2004)

The only son of one of North Korea's top generals has defected with his family and is in the hands of U.S. intelligence officials, according to secret reports from the Japan Defense Agency. [...]

A Japan Defense Agency operative in the North Korean industrial port of Chongjin reportedly saw Oh Se-Uk, who holds the rank of brigadier general, board a speedboat with a group of Koreans of Japanese ancestry who had earned the trust of North Korean authorities. [...]

Analysts here view the younger Oh's defection as a sign of the gradual weakening of Kim Jong-Il's regime. Sons and other relatives of Kim Jong-Il have been engaged in a power struggle in which relatives have reportedly been purged.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 16, 2004 11:11 PM