So, I was enjoying Andrei Lankov’s latest New York Times column on North Korea — as usual, he is the most astute observer on that regime — when I did a bit of wayward Googling and discovered that Mr. Lankov has a new book out about Pyongyang, the charming Kim family, and all that good stuff.
It took about 30 seconds before I had The Real North Korea on my Kindle. I’m really looking forward to reading it … although I am slammed with enough work and deadlines these days that I fear I will not get it done for a couple of months.
As for Andrei’s latest column I mentioned, here’s the key graph:
If history is any guide, in a few weeks’ time things will calm down. North Korea’s media will tell its people that the might of the People’s Army and the strategic genius of their new young leader made the terrified American imperialists cancel their plans to invade the North. Meanwhile, North Korea’s diplomats will approach their international counterparts and start probing for aid and political concessions.
In other words, it is business as usual on the Korean Peninsula.
