Guidance Train Kept a-Rollin' & When RG Met SK

1.) MOFA Director-General for North American Affairs, Ri Gun, met with Six-Party Talks Envoy, Sung Kim, for an hour in New York on Saturday (24 October).  The substance of the meeting was not disclosed, and Mr. Ri did not seem to want to jinx anything.  The meeting occurred two days after the US Government froze the assets of Tanchon Commercial Bank for possible DPRK involvement in Iran’s strategic weapons programs.

2.) And, certainly not least, Kim Jong-il and the guidance train kept a-rollin’.  General-Secretary Kim’s last reported appearance was around 22 October at two pig farms.  General-Secretary Kim toured several locations in Huichon City, Jagang Province (photo here).  Over the weekend he visited the state park in Mount Myohyang (photo here).  Perhaps the frozen assets of the Tanchon Commercial Bank is the reason we are not seeing the laid-back, smiling Kim Jong-il in these guidance tours.  Once the General-Secretary seems to settle, I will have a complete wrap-up of his recent guidance tours.