Left Flank

I did manage to sneek a few glances at some news while upgrading.

1. Happy Anniversary, DPRK: Aside from rumors of the Dear Leader's demise, or bad health, there was this concrete sign today.

South Korea's military said the North had been massing weapons for days to shown them off in its capital in a spectacle that would be closely watched for any appearance by reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, following a report he may be seriously ill.

But a South Korean National Intelligence Service official said there was no sign that any parade had taken place early in the day, when Pyongyang typically stages such events, though he added it was too early to read anything into the apparent delay.

There was also no mention of any parade in the secretive North's official media although it has mentioned other festivities being held to mark the anniversary of the communist state's founding in 1948.

2. Did I Learn Martial Arts with the ITF: I would never think of Taekwon-do as a deadly art after watching all those Olympic matches.

North Korea infiltrated an international taekwondo group, using it as a front to send out spies and plot the killing of a South Korean president who ruled for much of the 1980s, newspapers said on Tuesday.

The Korea Times quoted Choi Jung-hwa, son of the late Choi Hong-hi who founded the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) in 1966, as saying North Korea ordered overseas ITF masters, including himself, to assassinate President Chun Doo Hwan.

«After taking control of the ITF, the North trained spies and sent them overseas, disguising them as taekwondo masters,» the Korea Times quoted Choi as telling reporters on his return to South Korea on Monday after living overseas for 34 years.

The Korea Times quoted Choi as saying he plotted to kill Chun on a visit to Canada in 1982, but Canadian police got wind of the plan and Choi fled to North Korea.

3. A Good Soldier: Andy Jackson does his pundit-spinning best to follow GOP guidelines to «attack, attack, attack!»