Left Flank

I wonder—pardon the pun—if these two locomotive stories are linked, the Kaesong Express and the Raijin Gambit?

There's a train running through Siberia, too. But, has it recouped its construction costs? This seems to be a Korean specialty—spending money with no return in sight!

That was a brief smile!

Meanwhile, the spokesman hinted the Transition Committee is minded to keep the Unification Ministry intact. «We can't live only on a diet even if it is good for health. We should take into consideration public sentiment and the symbolic meaning of the ministry.» There has been speculation that the incoming administration would downgrade the ministry as part of a government restructuring plan.

And then, there's another disappointment (stung me, Myung!):

The transition team's spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said that the new government will divide inter-Korean cooperation projects into three categories according to their importance and validity. In the first category, humanitarian aid -- rice, fertilizer, medical equipment, forestation and environmental support -- will be provided as in the past. In the second category are projects whose commercial validity has been proven and that will benefit South Korean companies. Those will be carried out within the scope of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund. They include agreements on natural resource development, transport and communication with the Kaesong Industrial Complex and customs clearance. However, third-category projects, which will cost an enormous amount of money, will undergo a review. They include infrastructure projects, the shipyard complex and the «peace zone» including a joint fisheries area.

Why should Pyongyang complain? By Chosun's interpretation, there's no change at all! Pyongyang gets its rice, roh's recent agreement stands, and the rest is only under review. I could stomach the first two hts, if the transition committee at least chopped out the third one.

Was there a protest I missed, or is this a dodge? Talk fiercely, and quietly acquiesce?

Without resorting to the human rights card, the European Union business lobby has found a way to stymie FTA talks with the ROK, because of an unfair mix of politics and trade.

BusinessEurope fears EU employers would be at a disadvantage if goods produced at South Korean factories in Kaesong were classed as southern-made, it said.

In a letter, BusinessEurope's secretary-general Philippe de Buck, asked David O'Sullivan, head of the European Commission's trade directorate, which is leading trade talks with Seoul, to ensure Kaesong is excluded, it said.

«I would like to express our concerns about the risk of unfair competition from products manufactured in the Kaesong industrial zone in North Korea - an area which is likely to remain off-limits for European companies given the current political situation in that country,» de Buck was quoted as saying.

South Korea sees Kaesong as a flagship project to reform the North's moribund economy and ease the massive costs of any eventual reunification.

No matter what the ROK Constitution says about the boundaries of the Korean state, the EU still finds the DMZ more legitimate. Seoul will just have to reform its economy the hard way...by itself.