Free Republic

Photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il smiling brightly inside the Chinese Embassy in Pyeongyang are having a strange effect on the minds of South Koreans. On Sunday, Kim visited the Chinese Embassy, accompanied by an entourage of high-ranking officials, including Workers' Party Secretary Kim Ki-nam, First Director of the KWP Central Committee Yi Yong-chul, First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju, and Vice Minister of the Armed Forces Kim Jong-gak. There he joined Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming and embassy staff to celebrate the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival on the first full moon of the Lunar New Year. In photos released...

/begin my translationGovernment on Alert to Monitor Signs of N. Korean Nuclear Test '24 Hours a Day' A military monitoring team dispatched to the Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral ResourcesA few additional monitoring stations set up and in operation along DMZ(Seoul = Yonhap News) Kim Kwi-geun, Lee Kwi-won correspondent =The government and military authorities went into all-out monitoring of N. Korean nuclear test because the chance of N. Korea going ahead with the test shot up after N. Korea launched missiles on July 5, and UN passed resolution against N. Korea. A government source said in Aug. 20, "6-party talks on N. Korean nuke is still in deadlock. After the...