In lieu of an extended post on Korean issues today, I read and translate an insightful editorial from Germany’s greatest paper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Three quick corrections to the clip: 1) at 4:10 I wrongly translate that North Korea can’t win a war, when in fact the author states that South Korea can’t win a war with the North, and 2) at 5:56 I miss the author’s incorporation of the succession politics, in that external pressure and manipulation of military lobbies allows Kim Jong Il to not allow rival factions to gain control in a climate of uncertainty about the future, and 3) I mishandle the author’s penultimate assertion about China; he ocrrectly states that “China cannot control [steuern] North Korea, but they can still influence them.”
Readers hungry for more content and interpretation of Chinese-language materials on North Korea (as well as recent KCNA activity) are urged to check my Twitter feed, where a quaver of tweets on these subjects is being prepared presently.
For German diplomacy in East Asia, a photo gallery of the German Bundespresident, Horst Koehler, may also be of interest (click image for the link):
Adam Cathcart 