It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

WHAT'S GOING ON IN OR AROUND KOREA TODAY?
--The Korea Herald has an interesting editorial on anti-American sentiment in Korea. A glimpse:

We believe the noticeable growth of anti-USFK or anti-American sentiment here in recent years is due to negligence in serious efforts to stem the trend by either side of the alliance.

Sounds about right.

--The New York Times has a good piece on North Korean economic reforms Several interesitng bits follow:

Even as it rattles its nuclear sabers, North Korea is toying with a version of market reforms to patch its ravaged economy. But eight months after changes like price incentives began, the economy retains an unmistakable Alice in Wonderland quality.

"Our purpose is not to make a profit," Kim Chol, the 45-year-old manager, lectured patiently. "It is for the everlasting honor of our beloved leader, Kim Jong Il, that we are interested in serving proper meals to South Korean tourists, even to foreign tourists."

Asked the prices of ingredients for the meals, Mr. Kim said he did not know. He orders the food he needs. It comes.

When China made its first moves to free prices, in 1979, it acted cautiously and gradually, cushioned by a society that was 80 percent rural. In contrast, North Korean officials are imposing a food-price shock on a population that increasingly seeks the advantages of life in towns and cities.

Despite incentives by the Seoul government for companies to invest and trade with North Korea, interest from outside has trailed off. Investors cite erratic supplies of electricity, the cavalier attitudes toward contracts, a small domestic market and bureaucratic paralysis.

The number of new projects approved by the South Korean government fell to 3 last year, from 13 in 1998. Of 52 Southern companies allowed to invest in the North, half have dropped out of the program.

Wow!

--One more thing:

Chosun Ilbo (Kim Min-cheol, "NORTH WARNS AGAINST SOUTH'S CRITICISM," Seoul, 03/11/03) reported that the Rodong Shinmun, a state-run DPRK daily newspaper, said Monday that DPRK's fighter planes that buzzed a US spy plane last week were carrying out their right to self-defense. It also said ROK's criticism of the interception was outrageous, and likened it to complaining that your brother had kicked a thief out the door. The daily said that the incident would not have occurred if US had not "recklessly asserted its military power by sending the spy planes on patrol." It said that the "thoughtless actions" of ROK would only push inter-Korean relations back to a more contentious state.